Nestled on the eastern edge of the town of Hemel Hempstead, just east of Berkhamsted, lies the villages of Fields End to the north and Bourne End to the south. Both villages have their origins as relatively new settlements that developed throughout the 20th century; with Fields End developed in the 1990s. As such, the housing stock is incredibly varied along this eastern strip of Hemel Hempstead, with Bourne End boasting large country manors with selling offers in excess of £2.5 million and new-builds of over £700,000, and Fields End characterised by post-1990s suburban housing developments around the £600,000 mark.

Bourne End, the more developed area, is situated on the Roman Akeman Street, which connects Hertfordshire to Gloucestershire, as well as being on the Grand Union Canal. Both areas have historically been densely agricultural; with large farmsteads populating the strip east of the town centre of Hemel Hempstead. One of the oldest houses in Bourne End - Bourne End Farm - is thought to have been built by Flemish Hugenot refugees who arrived in England escaping persecution in the 16th and 17th centuries. Bourne End farm is still a functioning farmstead today, after several contemporary rennovations, and now operates as a livery stable!

Bourne End is also home to local superstition, stemming from the Bourne Gutter, an irregular stream which flows in conjunction with the River Bulbourne. It is known locally as a ‘Woe Water’, and is only said to flow during times of tragedy. Amongst recorded instances of the stream flowing include in the 1660s with the Great Plague, the outbreak of World War One, the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis, and in the early 1980s during the Faulkands War!

The Dacorum council, since the regeneration of the Fields End locale in the 1990s, have been attempting to re-develop the farm and meadowland in the surrounding area, which has been consistently met with considerable resistance from residents. Therefore, development in that area has been slow, and still maintains its rural and agricultural character. However, in the Dacorum Local Development Plans, the local council has introduced growth strategies for the area of Bourne End. This includes significant office and industrial developments to the Bourne End Mills industrial estate, aiming to construct over 4,000 sqf of mixed-use office and industrial floorspace!