IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Bell Lane, ST. ALBANS, AL2 1DR

Well the OS say that they are old cottages. They may be past their best but old?

When Arsene Wenger finally leaves Arsenal FC this training ground, which was built to his design and specifications, will be one of his lasting legacies. It was opened in 1999 at a cost of about £10 million pounds. There are ten full size pitches, two with under-soil heating, with a state-of-the-art, as it was then, dressing room complex. These facilities are regularly used by the England team for training in advance of international matches. In 1999 Arsenal were still playing at Highbury, and, were it not for green belt land planning restrictions, would have seriously considered this location for their new stadium, with its proximity to the M25 Motorway. In the event of course Image was built instead. This image was taken from the Watling Chase Timberland Trail public footpath.

Watling Chase Timberland Trail is a defined National Trail, currently running for about 17 kilometres from Elstree & Borehamwood railway station via Shenley, London Colney, and Colney Heath to Smallford near Hatfield (and some distance from another railway station). It is only currently shown on the Ordnance Survey's 1:25,000 Explorer maps not the 1:50,000 Landranger ones. On top of that the Ordnance Survey describe it as "Watling Chase Trail" on the map and a current Google search on that term confusingly yields a mere 6 hits, compared to the 152 for the full name. At this point the trail follows a public footpath between the extremely well concealed Arsenal FC training ground on the right and the University College London (UCL) sports facilities on the left.

Taken from Bell Lane.