Retirement Properties Spotlight in Croxley Green

Watford is a busy modern town and lies just south of the M4 on the River Colne and about 18 miles from central London. The old town is still in evidence with a long high street and with several ancient buildings round the flint-built Church of St Mary. The Bedford Almshouses were founded in the 16th century and the Elizabeth Fuller Free School in the early 18th century.

The town lies on an ancient trackway over the River Colne which connected the South of the country with the Midlands. The modern High Street follows this road. The town remained an agricultural community throughout the Middle Ages and then in the 18th century the Grand Union Canal arrived and this together with the railways a century later ensured its future growth and prosperity. Today the town is an important regional centre for the northern home counties and has a major retail development with the Harlequin Centre which opened in the late 20th century.