US CONNECTIONS

Close to the capital yet rural in appearance, Hertfordshire’s sweeping valleys and forested hills retain the bucolic charm that encouraged some of London’s wealthiest to build stately homes here in centuries past. Its largest city, St Albans, once the third-biggest city in Roman Britain, is now a charming market town with a host of crooked Tudor buildings and Georgian townhouses dominated by its enormous cathedral. St Albans Cathedral marks the place where St Alban, a Romano-British soldier, was buried alive for his faith, becoming the rst English Christian martyr.

Home to Royal heroes, rebels and religious uprisings, the county played a vital role in World War II, with its aircraft innovators and busy air elds helping to liberate the skies of Europe. Bovingdon Airfield was an important operational base where most US bomber crews that came to Britain were trained for combat; thanks to its impressive runway, this famous airfield is now used as a filming location.