Hertfordshire Hookups: Hertfordshire Women Want to Meet

Hook up where the New Towns began

Hertfordshire has a habit of going first. Letchworth, up in the far north, became the prototype garden city in 1903, and Stevenage was the first town to expand under the New Towns Act of 1946. Around them sit the county's other big names: the city of St Albans in the middle, Hemel Hempstead to the west, and Watford, the largest of the lot, in the south-west corner.

This is London's next-door county to the north, home to about 1.24 million people, and it's built for getting about. The M1, M11, M25 and A1(M) all cross it. Intercity trains on the West Coast Main Line call at Watford Junction, while the East Coast Main Line heads up from King's Cross. Much of the county is green belt, and the land between the towns is mostly farmland rather than sprawl.

Good first dates from Hatfield to the Lee Valley

Hatfield

The University of Hertfordshire has more than 23,000 students and is based largely in Hatfield, part of it on the old aircraft site where the Comet, the first commercial jet airliner, was developed. That's a lot of students in one town.

The Lee Valley

The Lee Valley White Water Centre at Waltham Cross was purpose-built for the canoe slalom at the 2012 Olympics and has hosted the world championships twice since. It's an unusual daytime meet, and a talking point if the conversation stalls.

Walks and views

Aldenham Country Park, Cedars Park in Broxbourne and the Ashridge estate all make for a decent walk, Berkhamsted has its castle, and the Bridgewater Monument lets you climb 108 feet for the view.

Pick somewhere public for the first meeting and let a friend know where you'll be. VIP members can search by city and distance, which helps in a county with this many towns; the features page explains what else is included.