HelpHound Local

A very good Scottish friend of mine once said to me years ago "you English mostly don't have a geographic identity that defines you. I can call myself a 'Scotsman' " (I used to call him other things, but that's for another day), "someone from Leeds can call themselves a 'Yorkshireman'. These maybe stereotypical but you can very often be defined by where you come from. But you are from Rickmansworth and I've never heard you call yourself a 'Hertfordshireman'.

He's right of course. Hertfordshire still has lots of pretty Home Counties rurality but it doesn't have a unified feel to it. Certainly, it has been really messed up by the expansion of London during the 20th century, with new towns like Hatfield, Welwyn and Stevenage. And Watford is a music Hall joke. But I don't feel I 'belong' to Hertfordshire in the same way I know other people feel they 'belong' to the West Country or 'Yorkshire'. I wasn't born here, admittedly. I think it would have helped enormously if the county had had a First Class cricket team. But sadly, although I like the part of the county I live in, Hertfordshire means little more to me than a line in my postal address.