Car Hire Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth Garden City, home to approximately 34,000 residents, stands as the world’s first garden city in Hertfordshire. You can reach this historic town via the A505, A602 and A1(M), making it easily accessible from surrounding areas. The temperate climate offers pleasant spring and summer months ideal for outdoor exploration, with autumn bringing beautiful foliage and winter providing crisp, clear days perfect for museum visits and indoor attractions.

Letchworth Garden City showcases groundbreaking urban planning principles with its distinctive Arts and Crafts architecture, wide boulevards and abundant green spaces including Norton Common and the magnificent Howard Park. The town centre features the iconic Spirella Building (now apartments), comprehensive shopping facilities and numerous restaurants, whilst the Broadway Cinema provides cultural entertainment in a beautifully restored Art Deco building.

Attractions In Letchworth Garden

Pioneering social experiment transformed into thriving community where Arts and Crafts architecture showcases early 20th-century urban planning ideals, supported by independent cinema organic food markets and extensive cycling infrastructure.

Howard Park

The crown jewel of Letchworth’s green spaces, Howard Park on Rushby Mead has earned its stellar 4.5 rating from over 1,000 visitors through its recent improvements and family-friendly facilities. Open around the clock, this popular destination features modern playground equipment, water splash fountains for summer fun and a convenient refreshment kiosk. You’ll find ample space for recreational activities year-round.

Broadway Gardens Fountain

The Broadway Gardens Fountain is a prominent and beautiful landmark, sitting centrally along Letchworth’s main avenue. As a formal water feature, it is an essential part of the original Garden City design principles, intended to create open, pleasant public spaces. It serves as a major focal point for the town, often illuminated at night and provides a lovely, peaceful area right in the heart of Letchworth for locals and visitors alike.

Norton Common

Norton Common is a large, central public park and designated Local Nature Reserve in Letchworth. It features extensive mature woodland, open grassland and is home to the Pix Brook, a locally important chalk stream. This popular spot offers excellent walking trails and it famously houses the fantastic Letchworth Outdoor Swimming Pool complex, making it an essential destination for family recreation and nature exploration, right next to the town centre.

Oughtonhead Common Nature Reserve

Oughtonhead Common is a beautiful Local Nature Reserve easily accessible from Letchworth, hugely popular for tranquil walks. The site’s most important feature is the River Oughton, a rare and protected chalk stream that flows through it, providing a vital habitat for water voles and kingfishers. It offers a wonderful contrast of open grassland and small woodland areas, making it an ideal place to escape the town and connect with local rural heritage.

Howard Gardens

These tranquil gardens feature a fascinating contrast between formal bowling greens and wilder natural areas. The mysterious statue of Sappho, beloved by local children as the “Princess of the Park,” often displays seasonal flower offerings from young visitors. Evening visits reward you with sightings of black squirrels and pipistrelle bats during warmer months.

Standalone Farm

Daily operations from 10 AM until 5 PM make Wilbury Road’s working farm accessible for spontaneous visits throughout the week. The attraction combines traditional farm experiences with modern play areas, featuring tractor rides, climbing frames and a miniature railway. Reasonably priced admission around £10 per person includes access to all activities, with annual passes available for regular visitors.

Exploring beyond Letchworth becomes effortless with nearby destinations:

• Baldock
• Hitchin
• Weston
• Stevenage
• Preston
• Royston
• Buntingford
• Knebworth

Radwell Meadows Country Park

Norton Bury Lane in Baldock houses this delightful country park, operating daily from 8 in the morning through 9 PM. Ancient meadows blend with modern accessibility, providing excellent starting points for the ambitious 15-mile Letchworth Country Walk. Though navigation can prove challenging with unclear signage, the scenic countryside views and diverse wildlife encounters make any detours worthwhile adventures.

Willian Arboretum

The Willian Arboretum is a dedicated area of woodland and tree collection located just outside Letchworth, near the village of Willian. It provides a quiet, managed setting where you can explore a diverse array of tree species, often planted as memorials. It’s a wonderful, tranquil spot for reflection, birdwatching and gentle walks, showcasing a different type of managed green space within the wider Garden City landscape.

The Museum At One Garden City

Broadway’s cultural hub operates Tuesday through Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM, housing diverse community exhibitions celebrating Letchworth’s multicultural heritage. Rather than traditional museum displays, you’ll discover rotating artwork, local cultural initiatives and interactive elements, including children’s activity areas. The compact space suits brief visits perfectly when exploring the town centre.

The International Garden Cities Exhibition

The International Garden Cities Exhibition is an essential attraction for understanding Letchworth, as it is dedicated to the history and global influence of the Garden City movement. Located in the town centre, the exhibition details the pioneering vision of Ebenezer Howard and how Letchworth became the world’s first example. It explores how these planning principles have since been adopted and adapted by cities all across the globe. Norton Way South’s specialist museum opens exclusively on Fridays and Saturdays, offering free admission.

Letchworth Community Museum

The Letchworth Community Museum provides a deep dive into the local history of the town, focusing on the people, industry and daily life that flourished within the Garden City. It’s a wonderful, volunteer-supported resource displaying artefacts, photographs and documents that tell the story of the community beyond the planning models. It serves as a vital historical centre for anyone interested in how Letchworth developed its unique identity over the decades.

The Garden City Collection

The Garden City Collection is an incredibly important archive that documents the entire planning and social history of Letchworth, the world’s first Garden City. This vast collection holds original architectural plans, thousands of historical photographs and unique artefacts that illustrate the development of the revolutionary urban model. It is a key resource for researchers and historians worldwide studying town planning and Ebenezer Howard’s influential legacy.

700kg Bronze Of Sir Ebenezer Howard

Bridge Road’s imposing bronze statue honours the visionary behind the garden city movement, weighing an impressive 700 kilograms. Located at the historic Spirella Building, this landmark commemorates Howard’s revolutionary urban planning theories that influenced city development worldwide. The statue serves as a focal point for understanding Letchworth’s global significance in town planning history.

Sollershott Circus – The UK’s First Roundabout

Sollershott Circus in Letchworth holds a unique place in motoring history, as it is credited with being the site of the UK’s first purpose-built traffic roundabout. Installed back in 1909, this small, pioneering junction marked the beginning of modern traffic management on British roads. While it now sits quietly in a residential area, its historical significance is huge, representing a key innovation in the development of the Garden City’s road network.

Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation on Broadway operates Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, plus Saturdays until 4 PM, preserving and promoting garden city heritage. This charitable organisation maintains many local attractions and provides extensive information about Letchworth’s continuing legacy. Their visitor centre offers comprehensive resources for understanding the town’s ongoing development and conservation efforts.