Hampstead Heath

Let’s start with our run down of parks and green spaces of London with arguably one of the best and biggest in our opinion – Hampstead Heath.

At 791 acres its in the Grade One of green spaces and probably the one we most visit in our combined lifetimes. Hampstead has a lot of green areas but since this one is so vast we decided to give it its very own post and the Heath has a lot of sections and we will try and cover all of them in this post.

Our history with the Heath is quite different – Bob spent most of her teenage life there, walking the dog, exploring, swimming, meeting friends and partying most nights. For Ash it was limited to special days out, it was a treat to get lost for the day with my Mum and as such I have never learnt the routes – The getting lost is the fun part.

So with that said the scores (each category is a maximum of 5 stars to give a total of 100)

Animal Friendly – Yes, there are plenty of dogs at all times, even one section of the pond is dedicated to dogs.

Wildlife Areas – A lot of wooded areas, ponds and fields. There are squirrels, birds including Kestrels and even Eagles. Theres lots of nocturnal life too with Bat tours and everything. There is a Deer enclosure in the Northwest Corner and a mini Zoo.

Ponds/Water Features – Yes there are 18 in total and Some water features spread throughout more notably in the Pergola.

Formal Gardens – Yes are 3 areas dotted around the whole area. Including the Pitt Garden, Kenwood House Gardens and The Pergola.

Specimen Trees/Plants – Yes! There are 30 native Trees and more specimen trees have been planted in the most recent years. There are hundreds of plants/flowers all which are monitored and well looked after;

Covered Seating Areas/Pavilions – Yes there are tons! Bandstands, Little seating areas next to cricket pitches, pretty much every section has a couple of seating options. Every 100 metres there is a bench.

Paths – Many leading in all directions you can veer off there is no rules to stay on the path though.

Seating and Picnic Areas – There is no official Picnic areas but if you take a blanket do it the traditional way!

Playgrounds – There are 6 Playgrounds in total spread all over the space that are more like adventure playgrounds with all sorts of equipment.

Kids Areas – Yes Gospel Oak has a whole after school area blocked off but there are more dotted around. In the land of Au pairs and Nannies it is necessary.

Sports Courts/Pitches – There are 6 designated areas for Cricket, Tennis, Croquet, Football, Rugby, Bowling and Running/Athletics tracks. There are lots of areas that you can set up and play though.

Forest/Tree Walkways – The whole space is this.

Coffee Shops/Restaurant – Yes! There are lots of options around the different sections of the exit and entrances and all the main stations. We have reviewed a number of them.

Toilets – Yes 8 Toilets all dotted around the area. They are all on the outskirts It would be nice to have an extra few in the middle and also open for as long as the park is not just for a couple of hours between 9am and 3pm.

Manor Houses/Buildings – Yep Kenwood House.

Open Peace and Quiet – In places you can get lost to the sound of wild birds and nature. Obviously on the outskirts you can hear cars though.

Bins – There are a number of them spread throughout the Heath but its a bit of a guessing game to where. There used to be loads but now not so many.

Rules and Signs – Sure there were a few mostly around Kenwood, the ponds etc other than that its fairly ok.

Quirks – There are some pretty cool places, A hollowed out tree, A magical bridge and the secret Garden of course. One of the best views of London and a place where lots of TV/Movies have been filmed.