Countryside & Rights of Way Service

Countryside & Rights of Way Service Countryside & Rights of Way provides land management advice, environmental conservation & Rights of Way management.

Much of what we achieve is thanks to our incredible volunteers. The Countryside Management Service works with communities in Hertfordshire to help them care for and enjoy the environment. We do this by:

• Encouraging people to get involved in looking after their local countryside or park by offering a range of voluntary opportunities, from practical conservation to leading Health Walks.

• Provi

ding advice to landowners or managers helping them to look after their land with wildlife in mind. Helping a range of people from individual land owners to community groups source and secure funding for landscape improvement and conservation work.

• Promoting outdoor recreation through organising events such as guided walks, and working with groups to develop walk and cycle routes to link towns and villages to their surrounding countryside

We're still in the limbo land of moving workshops, but thanks to the patience and efforts our amazing volunteers, tasks ...
28/08/2026

We're still in the limbo land of moving workshops, but thanks to the patience and efforts our amazing volunteers, tasks are still happening. Yesterday an impressive amount got done at Oughtonhead Common in Hitchin. The team tackled Himalayan Balsam on the banks of the River Oughton, overhanging vegetation on the paths, repaired fencing and removed small scrub in the grazing compartment. All led and run by volunteers. Thanks, team.

A little quiet for us on the volunteering front in August, with some tasks cancelled due to hot weather and a smaller sc...
28/08/2026

A little quiet for us on the volunteering front in August, with some tasks cancelled due to hot weather and a smaller schedule while our base of operations was relocated.

Our first (and only!) Tuesday in August was spent at our self-managed site Broxbourne Wood, Hertfordshire's only National Nature Reserve. Some of the site's waymarking was refreshed and replaced, encroachment cut back from the paths around the sculpture trail, and repairs made to a bridge. Cattle grazing signage was also removed, with the longhorns taken off the site earlier in the month due to the parched conditions.

🌳☀️ A big thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's Volly Jolly!We were delighted to bring together 65 CMS vol...
13/08/2026

🌳☀️ A big thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's Volly Jolly!

We were delighted to bring together 65 CMS volunteers, 19 staff, Hertfordshire County Council Chairman Cllr Sandy Walkington, Cllr Paul Zukowskyj, and colleagues from The Woodland Trust and Heartwood Forest for a day of celebration at Heartwood Forest's Arboretum.

After tea, coffee and biscuits, volunteers enjoyed a welcome from Cllr Walkington and a guided walk led by volunteers from the Woodland Trust, before catching up over a well-earned hog roast lunch!

The Volly Jolly is our chance to say thank you to all our volunteers, including our Midweek Volunteers and Parish Surveyors, whose dedication helps care for Hertfordshire's countryside and Rights of Way throughout the year.

💚 We couldn't do it without you.

Do you live or work in Three Rivers District? Our colleagues from Public Health want to hear your views on mental healt...
11/08/2026

Do you live or work in Three Rivers District? Our colleagues from Public Health want to hear your views on mental health and wellbeing in the area.
The survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete.
www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/threeriverswellbeing

Back to beautiful Baldock for our volunteers yesterday. They were at Ivel Springs and Weston Hills tackling tough diggi...
31/07/2026

Back to beautiful Baldock for our volunteers yesterday. They were at Ivel Springs and Weston Hills tackling tough digging to repair the fencing on both sites. The cattle and sheep are settling in nicely and doing their crucial job of grazing to ensure that the wildflower meadows continue to thrive. Many of the volunteers were meticulously removing some of the very young scrub re-growth from the cattle meadow at Weston Hills to help keep a good balance of scrub to meadow in the field. Thank you so much - such a fabulous team.

It was a Rights of Way extravaganza yesterday in the Parish of Sandon. Set in some beautiful countryside our volunteers...
24/07/2026

It was a Rights of Way extravaganza yesterday in the Parish of Sandon. Set in some beautiful countryside our volunteers got busy improving access on the footpaths. Two stiles were replaced with kissing gates; a set of steps were built up a bank that can get slippery in wet weather; another kissing gate had some surfacing put down in preparation for the winter and many, many paths were cleared to make access along them easier and more enjoyable. An incredible effort as always. Thanks team!

A quiet week for our socials with staff time stretched in holiday season, but rest assured the volunteers have been busy...
24/07/2026

A quiet week for our socials with staff time stretched in holiday season, but rest assured the volunteers have been busy! Handrails and bollards dug in, paths cleared, ragwort reduced, himalayan balsam pulled and much much more in a hectic July.

In the absence of specific updates from many of our tasks we'll head into the weekend with this one photo from our tuesday volunteers which just about sums things up!

New public footpaths! We are excited to announce that we have completed an agreement with the landowner to add two new ...
23/07/2026

New public footpaths! We are excited to announce that we have completed an agreement with the landowner to add two new footpaths to the Definitive Map at Castle Fields in Berkhamsted. These new footpaths are open and ready to use and will be visible on our online rights of way map soon. Adding the paths to the Definitive Map gives them legal protection so that they will be available for generations to come.

A hot and dusty day in a surprisingly rural spot by the M25 in London Colney!The Friday team were back at the steep stee...
17/07/2026

A hot and dusty day in a surprisingly rural spot by the M25 in London Colney!
The Friday team were back at the steep steep steps on footpath 5 that they'd cleared earlier in the year to install a new handrail. Digging was tough going, and they did well to get over half installed.
Thank you all!

We're welcoming comments on several draft greenspace action plans at the moment:Post Wood, an ancient semi-natural woodl...
10/07/2026

We're welcoming comments on several draft greenspace action plans at the moment:

Post Wood, an ancient semi-natural woodland on the edge of Ware.
Bernards Heath, a local wildlife site and common land in St Albans.
and Greenway Spinney, a small and locally important woodland in Harpenden.

The plans can be downloaded from:

https://www.eastherts.gov.uk/sports-leisure-and-parks/local-parks-and-open-spaces/parks-open-spaces-ware/post-wood-presdales-recreation-ground

and

https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/greenspace-action-plans

Address

Farnham House, Six Hills Way
Stevenage
SG12ST

Telephone

+441992588433

Website

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