The Grove is a large hotel in Hertfordshire, England, with a 300–acre (1.2 km2) private park next to the River Gade and the Grand Union Canal.

Since its Georgian construction, The Grove has been altered and extended four times by a number of noted architects, including Surveyor of the King's Works, Robert Taylor.

The Grove often hosts major international events, such as the WGC-American Express Championship in 2006, the 2009 G20 London summit, the 2013 Bilderberg Conference and the 2019 NATO Leaders' Meeting.

[4][5] The hotel's publicity material makes reference to Chandlers Cross, the nearest settlement, formerly part of another parish and which has a nucleus to the west.

The earliest evidence of human activity is a Neolithic polished stone axe that was discovered in a small pit with the remains of a pot that appears to be of Middle Bronze Age.

The first evidence of settlement consists of traces of oval and circular dwelling structures from the Early Bronze Age (around 4,000 years old).

In 1324–5 Thomas de Harpesfield and Joan his wife held land in the demesne of St Albans at La Grava in the vill of Cassio, and the abbot released them from rent due for it.

[1] He sold it in 1631 and two water-mills under one roof, called the Grove Mills, to Sir William Ashton who left it to his second son Robert.

Consequently, regular guests in the mid and late nineteenth century included Queen Victoria, Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and Edward VII.

[7] In the early 20th century, death duties, a form of taxation introduced in 1894 by the Liberal Government, was placing an increasing financial burden on landed gentry and was responsible for the breaking up of many large estates across Britain.

[8] In the 1920s, in order to reduce their tax liabilities, the Villiers family decided to sell The Grove, downsizing their holdings to their estate at Swanmore, Hampshire.

Also at around this time, nearby Cassiobury House was sold off by the widow of George Capell, 7th Earl of Essex in 1922 due to prohibitive death duties.