Source: Daily Telegraph (Life) 4th December 2011
For a property with fission of romantic glamour, Balls Park is hard to beat. It is in Hertford, widely believed to be the basis for the fictional town of Meryton, home to the Bennet sisters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Austen certainly visited Hertford and was thought to have been a guest at Balls Park, a grand Grade I stately home, now in the process of being carved up into 40 flats by the Developer City & Country (cityandcountry.co.uk).
At the time, this part of Hertfordshire was an extremely wealthy area and a desirable location for those from London looking to build their country seats, says Ian Dieffenthaller, conservation architect for City & Country.
The cream of English society was to be found frequently gracing the opulent public rooms at Balls Park, and it is even possible that the famous Netherfield Ball in Pride and Prejudice was inspired by a similar ball at Balls Park that Jane Austen would have attended herself.