Watercress or fruit sandwiches anyone? Picnic like a Victorian in Rectory Lane Cemetery (2021)
Rectory Lane Cemetery, Rectory Lane, Hertfordshire, HP4 2DH
Channel your inner Mrs Beeton and prepare a wicker basket of watercress or fruit sandwiches, pigeon pie and steamed pudding and ale. Victorian picnics ranged from simple fare on a paper or wooden plate through to extravagent feasts with china and tables. On booking a ticket we will share with you examples of Victorian fare that you can prepare. We will also have a few delicacies of that era made from local ingredients for you to purchase to supplement your own victuals.
This is also an opportunity for those who wish to, to dress up and we look forward to seeing Victorian families once again spreading out their blankets and gathering around their picnic, which was a common activity in graveyards at the time.
While you eat you can discover the victuallers, food producers and purveyors of Victorian Berkhamsted who are buried in the Cemetery, brought to life through storytelling and vignettes – the butchers, bakers, brewers and ginger beer producers, the watercress, grape and apple growers and exporters, the fishmongers and grocers.
Follow your repast by perambulating, particularly graciously if dressed in costume, along Yew Tree Avenue, admiring the fine monument to Mrs Hewson, the collection of Lane memorials or the Foundation Stone attesting to the generosity of the Countess of Bridgewater who donated the land for the ‘new cemetery’. Or undertake your own tour of people in the Berkhamsted food trade using our much more contemporary online database!
Timings & Tours
Available anytime
Location & directions
Rectory Lane Cemetery, Rectory Lane, Hertfordshire, HP4 2DH
- Contact on day:
- Kate Campbell, Community Engagement Officer 07866 024254
- Telephone number:
- Kate Campbell, Community Engagement Officer 07866 024254
Booking information
- Pre-booking requirement:
- Pre-booking not required
Accessibility details
The main event takes place in the lower (Victorian) cemetery - which is the most level area of the cemetery and well served by wide accessible paths. The picnicking will take place on the grass which will be short-mown. Please bring whatever portable seating suits you - blankets on the ground, folded picnic chairs etc. We would appreciate you taking any litter created by your picnic home again!
Additional information
There are cycle racks for your penny-farthings inside the Rectory Lane gates. Check out our website www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk for information about nearest parking and public transport to the cemetery.
