Hertford

Hertford is a county town that ran a dual carriageway straight through its own middle and has spent every decade since promising itself a bypass. Behind the traffic sit a medieval street plan, a family brewery and enough independent boutiques to make the chain stores look like they read the room and left. Four rivers meet here, so buyers fall for the towpath in spring and only meet the flood map at the solicitor's. A Fore Street boy once sailed to Connecticut and named a whole city after the place, which is still the furthest anyone has gone to avoid Gascoyne Way at rush hour.