h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

From another Hemel resident.

I liked your Boxmoor entry.

And another one, though I don't live there currently my family still does and I visit regularly. I liked your entry too, seeing the belted cattle was always what I looked for as a child after a long car journey to know I was nearly home

Gosh, thanks so much. I'm raising my kids here (two girls aged three and five) and I'm hoping they'll have lots of nice childhood memories to look back on (like the belted cattle...). I lived in London for years, and although I'm sure it's fine for bringing up kids too, Hemel, incredibly, is a bit more like where I was brought up - San Fernando in Trinidad (West Indies). Same size population and I'm enjoying being part of a proper community again.

My girls are nearly 8, 6, and 21 months and my son is 4; we are finding it a nice place for the children to grow up - the number of large green public spaces is wonderful. We have two large parks within two minutes' walk as well as Boxmoor Common only 10 - 15 minutes' walk away.

I didn't exactly grow up here but spent a few weeks a year here for much of my childhood; when I was younger I thought Hemel an incredibly ugly place but now I do tend to see the green spaces more than the architecture.

I lived in Apsley until I was 2ish and Gadebridge until I went to university, and though I found the place quite boring at times as a teen, I always loved the green space and closeness to the countryside. The happy memories far outweigh the negatives, and now I live in what looks like Hemel's northern clone, I feel quite at home

I'm sure it can be a bit dire when you're a teen. It's certainly not very edgy. Having said that, the place is now changing quite a lot. There a Debenams and other news shops just off the Magic Roundabout, and the Kodak building has been acquired by a property developer. They're building a big complex of 'urban' flats, with shops and offices below. The old concrete flyovers near the Cotterels are being torn down right now. And the council are going to redevelop the area by the library (which, truthfully, is a rubbish library) and Civic Centre.

Apsley has changed tremendously too - there's a marina development at Apsley Lock which is very smart.

I get a shock every time I go back to visit . The 'Riverside' development thing was built while I was at university. The name always makes me giggle for some reason as the River Gade is more of a trickle at that point . Next down there at the end of half term, no doubt something else will have changed.