Bricket Wood is a village in the county of Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, England, approximately 4½ miles from St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

. It is part of the parish of St Stephen

St Stephen, Hertfordshire

St Stephen is a civil parish in the City and District of St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The parish is to the south-west of St Albans proper, and includes the areas of Park Street, Chiswell Green, How Wood, Bricket Wood, and Frogmore....

. Its railway station

Bricket Wood railway station

Bricket Wood railway station serves the village of Bricket Wood in Hertfordshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland. It is on the Abbey Line 5 km east of Watford Junction.-History:...

 is served by a London Midland

London Midland

London Midland is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Legally named London and Birmingham Railway Ltd, it is a subsidiary of Govia, and has operated the West Midlands franchise since 11 November 2007....

 service that runs between St Albans Abbey and Watford Junction stations.

Close to the village stands Hanstead House

Hanstead House

Hanstead House is a Georgian-style country house estate near Bricket Wood in Hertfordshire, England. It was built in 1925.- The Yule family :Sir David Yule who made his at home at Hanstead House off Smug Oak Lane, just outside the village...

, built by Sir David Yule in 1925, who is buried in the grounds. It was subsequently bought by Herbert W. Armstrong

Herbert W. Armstrong

Herbert W. Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God in the late 1930s, as well as Ambassador College in 1946, and was an early pioneer of radio and tele-evangelism, originally taking to the airwaves in the 1930s from Eugene, Oregon...

 to serve as his second Ambassador College

Ambassador College

Ambassador College was a four-year, liberal arts college run by the Worldwide Church of God. The college was established in 1947 in Pasadena, California by radio evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong, leader of what was then the Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God...

 campus. It is now a training centre for HSBC

HSBC

HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...

.

Morris Dancing

The village is home to the border Morris Dancing team Wicket Brood, one of the best known teams in the area.

Naturism

The village of Bricket Wood has been host to at least six naturist clubs: Fiveacres Country Club, Spielplatz

Spielplatz

Spielplatz is believed to be the UK's second oldest naturist club, and consists of 12 acres located in the village of Bricket Wood, in the county of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom....

, The Sun-Folk Society, Gardenia (originally named Silverbirch), Diogenes Sunlight Society (also known as The Phoenix Recreational Society), and The Suncampers. Of these, Gardenia has now closed and been built on, Diogenes became the Diogenes Sun Club when it moved to near Maple Cross. The Suncampers have gone but the three remaining clubs are all still open.

The clubs have been there for many years. Fiveacres Country Club was founded in 1927 off Oakwood Road and is the UK's oldest naturist club on the same site. Spielplatz was founded by the Mackaskies in 1929 after visiting Fiveacres and they purchased their own site in the village in Lye Lane , The Sun-Folk Society started in 1931.

Wicca

In 1954 Gerald Gardner

Gerald Gardner

Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...

 published his book "Witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 Today" to advance his own practice of Wicca

Wicca

Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...

 as a modern religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

. He established his first coven

Coven

A coven or covan is a name used to describe a gathering of witches or in some cases vampires. Due to the word's association with witches, a gathering of Wiccans, followers of the witchcraft-based neopagan religion of Wicca, is also described as a coven....

at Bricket Wood. Gerald Gardner operated his coven from Fiveacre Country Club in Bricket Wood.http://books.google.com/books?id=dqd8NptJIIAC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=bricket+wood+coven&source=web&ots=vBgSpbGQlY&sig=DFvrUHt8ykYv7x-M7jeE_GdZy2E#PPA20,M1