Rothamsted Park parkrun

Chris Jeanes

10 hours ago

6 min read

Venue number 81 was to take part in an unofficial Redway Runners road trip to the fairly new Rothamsted Park only on event number 5 on the date of our road trip back on the 2nd May 2026. Unofficial by the way because it was not organised by the club but a load of random club members just happened to turn up on the same day. It was a last minute decision to visit this parkrun so I had done no research and knew very little about it. Rothamsted Park is located on the Western flank of Harpenden on ground which used to be part of the Rothamsted estate. It's an attractive park and a pretty if reasonably challenging course, but more on that later. We decamped to the High Street in Harpenden for Coffee and pastries after the event.

[I first visited this parkrun on 2nd May 2026]

Club members behind the parkrun sign — You can tell it's an unofficial club trip, most of us are not even in club colours!

Bit of History

The current Rothamsted Park was originally used for agricultural experiments started in the 1800s when the land was still part of the manor estate. Later in the 1930s Harpenden Urban District Council purchased 56 acres of the Estate and this land eventually became Rothamsted park following a delay to the development of the land as public sports facilities caused by the start of World War II. The park was previously used to train troops during World War I and the Manor house itself was part of the de-coding network centred around Bletchley park during World War II. For more information on the history of the park, please see the attached photo of an information board I found at the park during my visit.

History Board of Rothamsted park — History board of the park

Briefings

The visitor and first timer briefing was split into two sections, one for visitors and then a follow on for those completely new to parkrun, I think this works well and have seen this done at some other parkruns as well. The visitor brief gave a very good description of the course, and also advised this is a keep left and overtake on the right event. She then reminded us all not to take the finish tokens home as they have had an unusually large amount go missing in the previous weeks. At the Main Brief we had visitors from London, Derby and Wales, but no Milestones this week. There was then another brief description of the figure of 8 course. A warning that the wooded section is rough underfoot, also that the grass can be slippery underfoot if there is morning dew on the grass. There was also a slight change to the start location and the location of the finish funnel compared to previous weeks due to building work which had started recently at the park. Then we had the usual parkrun rules about being aware of other park users, one dog per person on handheld lead, and being mindful if you are running with a buggy and other runners being mindful of runners with buggies. Defibrillator and First Aid kit are available if needed. We were reminded to please not park at the Leisure centre, but instead to park at one of the town centre car parks. The briefing finished with a thank you to all the volunteers this morning.

Run Director on the steps giving the briefing. — Main briefing on the steps of the Eric Morecambe Centre

Course Description

A twice figure of 8 course, starting on a tree lined tarmac path at the bottom of the hill, you head straight up the hill and then turn right at the top of the hill onto a grass section. You then turn sharp right again and head back along the tree lined avenue you have just come up, but this time on the grass, you then take a sharp left hairpin turn and then head roughty towards a large single tree, turning right at the tree (all these turns are marshalled and marked with cones). You then take a long extended sweeping left turn before heading through a treeline and alongside some playing fields on your right, at the end of the playing fields you reach another marshal who will direct you onto another sharp right hairpin turn to send you back past the playing fields again this time on your left. You spend a lot of this course passing by faster and slower runners where the course backs onto itself, so it is a good one to do with a group of buddies as you will keep passing them. You will then pass the Harpenden Town FC ground on your left and then take a left and then a right to pass the car park (also on your left), you then rejoin the footpath and take a sweeping right turn to bring you back to the bottom of the hill you started on. You then go up the hill again but this time at the top you take a left turn onto another grass section, this section is much shorter than the grass section you have already completed. The second grass section roughly follows an anti-clockwise lap of the parimeter of a field which is roughly triangular shaped, this will bring you back to the bottom of the hill again, and you have reached the end of Lap 1. Lap 2 is identical to Lap 1 - up the hill turn right large grass section, up the hill and turn left for the shorter grass section, you then finish on the hill just up from the start (so it's a total of 4 times up the hill).

Course map — Simpler to run than it looks like from the course route.

Difficulty

This is hilly and mostly off-road on grass with a total of 70m of Garmin registered elevation. On the nice dry spring morning I visited on where the grass was dry and runnable, I would rate it as at least a 3 out of 5, but in winter this would easily rise to a 4 out of 5 with muddy sections I suspect. You will want road shoes in summer but trails or hybrids in winter or after a lot of rain.

Mid Run shot — Taken on the first grass section, running back along the tree lined path

Elevation

With a total of 70m of Garmin registered elevation, this is an undulating hilly parkrun where as well as the hill up the tarmac path to deal with the first grass section also has a hill to climb on the grass. This is a fairly challenging parkrun, and while not as hilly as some of the Chiltern parkruns such as Church Mead or Wendover it is still more hilly than the average parkrun in the local area. Check out the elevation graph below...

Parking, Facilities and Coffee

The parkrun website suggests parking at one of the many town centre car parks, the two they specifically recommend are Bowers Way and Lydekker car parks. I chose the roof top car park at Bowers Way West, next to a Sainsburys store, there is also a Bowers Way East car park which is slightly further away from the park. From the car park I went down the stairs and exited onto the High Street, and headed south following my phone to get me to the park, on the way I passed some public toilets (which are the ones you are recommended to use by the parkrun website), I didn't need to go on this occasion, so can't vouch for them personally. The walk took about 10 minutes, but it was a pleasant walk as Harpenden has quite an attractive high street with lots of trees and planting. At the time of our visit there wasn't a specific coffee shop attached to the parkrun yet as it was quite a new event so we ended up at Gails on the High Street. They are now recommending Brad and Dills which is right next to the park.

Public Toilets — Public toilets on the High Street

Other Points of Interest

I didn't get chance to check it out, but there is a museum inside the Eric Morecambe centre, called the Harpenden Museum and it opens on Saturdays at 10:30 and is also open on Tuesday and Thursdays as well. I might have to go back on another occasion and check out the museum. According to their website the museum focuses on the history of Harpenden from it's beginnings as an early settlement right through to it's modern day role as a commuter town.

Summary

This was a very friendly parkrun to visit. The park and the town centre are both very pretty and I really enjoyed the parkrun, even if it was a fair bit of a challenge with the very undulating nature of the course. I'd probably recommend doing it in the summer, as I suspect it can get a bit muddy in the winter.