The countryside around Berkhamsted is the best thing about it, and most of it is a short walk from the front door. Green space is a couple of minutes' walk away. Water is not much further. Beyond the commons lies a royal hunting park that never stopped being woods. Plenty of towns have a park, and Berkhamsted has a whole valley side.
The average home in Berkhamsted is about 160 metres from public green space, with around 25 green spaces within a kilometre. On the north-east side of town, the Berkhamsted and Northchurch commons are the largest in the Chilterns, curving from Northchurch through Frithsden towards Potten End. Ownership of Berkhamsted Common is split between the National Trust and the golf club, which is the town's character in one land registry entry.
Water is close too, at about 270 metres from the average home, with around 45 water features within a kilometre. The River Bulbourne, a chalk stream, and the canal both run along the valley floor. The towpath passes the site of an old canal boatyard, and that is where the town's Canadian totem pole stands. No other Hertfordshire towpath has one.
The National Cycle Network is about 6.7 kilometres away on average, and no postcode in the town is close to it. Cyclists here use the traffic-free off-road routes in the Ashridge Estate. On a bike, this is mountain-biking country more than commuter-cycling country.
The rated-premises list puts 147 shops, 15 pubs and 23 restaurants in the town. That is a properly stocked high street for a town this size, running along the line of the old Roman road. Of the 131 food outlets with a hygiene rating, about 77% hold the top score of five, and none score at the bottom. Nobody eating out here needs to read the sticker on the door first.
The valuation list holds 652 rateable premises, of which 234 are offices and 141 shops. These are buildings on the rating list, not a count of businesses open today, but the office count shows a town where plenty of people earn a living locally as well as at the far end of a train journey.
Dacorum's fine-particle level was about 7 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024, a borough-wide average that covers Hemel Hempstead as well as the commons.
Almost none of the town's built-up area is inside a designated landscape. About 0.2% of it falls in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and there is no site of special scientific interest or ancient woodland within its boundary. The protection starts where the houses stop. Beyond the commons, Ashridge is designated in its own right, and the Chilterns rise on both sides of the valley. Berkhamsted is the gap between the protected parts, which is how it managed to keep growing.
Ashridge used to be part of Berkhamsted Castle's hunting park, and today the National Trust looks after it. The town inherited a forest from a medieval royal hobby. Little Gaddesden and Dagnall lie along its northern side, Potten End beyond the common, and the castle ruins are a short walk from the station.
Private gardens are generous. The town has about 142,000 square metres of garden per 1,000 residents across its neighbourhoods. Most homes have outdoor space of their own as well as the commons up the hill. In Berkhamsted the woods start at the end of the garden, and the garden itself is a decent size.
The surroundings are one of Berkhamsted's real strengths. The commons, the canal and Ashridge are all part of daily life here, and they need no trip out to reach.