Park of the week

70. Ravenscroft Gardens

This relatively small open space in Wood Street, Barnet, is also known as Ravenscroft Park. It’s part of the Wood Street Conservation Area - identified by the Local Planning Authority as having special architectural or historic interest. The gardens are formally laid out with shrubs, bedding, winding paths, and a rock garden, all surrounded by recently restored iron railings with an ornamental gate. 

The space has mature trees including horse chestnuts, and evergreen trees such as fir and monkey puzzle. I like to pick up acorns and conkers as souvenirs, but the squirrels got to this park first so there were none to be had. I also like to collect tree cones and was tempted by one of the monkey puzzles, but theirs are viciously spiked and I’m sure you’re meant wait till they’ve fallen rather than pulling them off the tree. Although the gardens are on a busy road, they have a quiet feel; the trees help muffle the traffic sound. 

The land they occupy was originally part of Barnet Common that had included a pond often used by cattle drovers on their way to Barnet Fair. The space, converted from open land in the late nineteenth century when a new road and housing were developed, was originally called Barnet Recreation Ground but the name was changed to Ravenscroft Gardens, after local benefactor, James Ravenscroft.

During the Second World War at the start of the blitz, there was often a shortage of water to fight fires. In some areas the mains were damaged, in others demand outstripped supply, and local authorities were told to provide standing supplies of water for emergencies. In Barnet, a tank was built from bricks at the west end of Ravenscroft Gardens. After the war, the wall was removed making it into a pond area. There used to be two ornamental ponds, but these were drained in the 1990s – there are sunken, grassed over areas where they used to be.

There are no café or toilets, and there is no car park. We found room to park on a nearby street. 

Judith Field

Ravenscroft Gardens, Wood Street, High Barnet EN5 4ND

68. Nightingale and Avenue Gardens

These two ornamental gardens, in Bounds Green, are linked by a section of former railway embankment. Together, they form a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation and are home to mature trees, including ash, poplars, cherry, oak, false acacia, whitebeams, and lime. There are three large poplars over a hundred years old at the south end. 

A hamlet known as Woodleigh existed here from Saxon times. Bounds Green Road existed as an old route from the fourteenth century and the land in the area probably formed part of the large Bowes Farm Manor Estate, granted by Henry IV to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in 1412. Wood Green remained largely farmland until the mid-nineteenth century, when the area began to be built over to house the growing population.

The gardens were laid out on former rural rough pasture between 1894 and 1913 and in 1956, the formal rose garden with rough artificial stone walls and crazy paving paths was created. The land is owned by Thames Water because the New River runs under here. That’s why no houses have been built on the land. The New River, which the local authority class as an Ancient Monument, is an artificial waterway constructed in 1609-13 to bring fresh drinking water into London from springs near Ware in Hertfordshire and later from the River Lea and other sources. 

I found, tucked away on a neighbourhood forum, a claim that Lloyds Bank filmed one of their television ads in the gardens last December. I have always thought those black horses were CGI and I think I must be right because, had they been real, I think there would be more about it – probably including complaints about the ground being churned up by stampeding horses.

There are benches in the gardens, but no café, toilets or playground. We could hear children playing and went to look, couldn’t find the source of the sound, and Jack got cross with me for making him come out to such a place when ‘Shark Tale’ was on television (for the umpteenth time). But I thought it was a pretty, restful spot and would go there again if Jack allowed repeat visits.

Judith Field

Nightingale and Avenue Gardens, Bounds Green Road, London N22 8DW

66. One Tree Hill Open Space

This park in Wembley is so named because, when the land it occupies was first bought by the local authority in 1921, it comprised a hill with a single tree. That’s thought to have been an ash tree but since felled. It’s nothing to do with the teen-drama TV series. 

Since then, the park has been landscaped with trees and shrubs, and the local residents’ association holds annual tree planting. The hill itself is steep, with wooded slopes where a variety of flowers grow, including bluebells. Walking to the top, where there’s open grassland, is a good workout for the legs and from the highest point there are impressive views of Harrow on the Hill, Wembley Stadium and towards Central London. People sometimes fly kites from the top, but the air was still when we visited, and we didn’t see any.

A wildlife area has been created in the southern part on a former allotments site and the park was declared a Local Nature Reserve in 2007. A community garden was recently opened in the park, as the result of a collaboration between residents (who will manage the garden) and the Local Authority. 

There are no formal pitches but there’s plenty of room for ball games and for walking. There’s a children’s playground and an outdoor gym, but no café or toilets.

I often look at the British Newspaper Archive when writing these posts, and was intrigued to find that in 1950, a woman was fined ten shillings (fifty pence, but apparently the equivalent of £10 today) for breaking a local by-law by cycling in this park. The police officer who stopped her pointed out the people walking and children playing in the area. Her reply was that she had had very little time and couldn’t see any children nearby. The by-law was repealed in 1921, so bring your bikes along.

Entry is from Norton Road, St James Gardens and Bridgewater Road, HA0. There is no car park but there is room to park on nearby streets.

Judith Field

One Tree Hill Open Space, 108 Norton Rd, Wembley, HA0 4QR

64. Lyttelton Playing Fields

These fields, in Hampstead Garden Suburb, mark the addition to the original part of the Suburb finished in the nineteen twenties, of the section added in the nineteen thirties. Lyttelton Playing Fields were part of the provision of recreational and green areas in the original design of the Suburb and it’s the largest open space there. It’s also one of Barnet’s Premier Parks and a site of local importance for nature conservation. The Playing Fields and Northway Gardens (see number 32) make up a green corridor running behind the shops and flats along the A1, between Norrice Lea and Henley’s Corner.

Most of the site is a large open, grassed area surrounded by boundaries of hedge and trees, and the greenery in the gardens that back onto the space. There’s a lot of room to walk, and plenty of benches. It has children’s playgrounds, tennis courts, basketball and football courts, cricket squares and a private bowls club. It has a pavilion, which is home to a nursery. There are toilets, and a kosher (I suppose it is) café where we bought Israeli ice creams. Eating an ‘Eskimo’ set off a big nostalgia surge in me.

Mutton Brook (which joins Dollis Brook and, eventually, the River Brent) runs along the north of the field through the remains of an ancient woodland with old oak trees, horse chestnut, hornbeam and field maple. This used to be known as Watery Wood and the oak trees in front of the tennis courts are part of it. There are also the remains of a nine-hundred-year-old hedgerow to the south and a children’s Millennium Wood in the northwest corner. There’s a small amphitheatre next to the playground, where am dram productions are staged.

There’s no car park but we found space on the road. Access is from Kingsley Way, Lyttelton Road, Norrice Lea and Linden Lea, N2.

This photo was taken when we visited, in 2020. I’m writing this on a muggy, cloudy Mill Hill morning. If Jack would allow us to visit parks more than once and we went back now, I imagine all that’s green would now be yellow, as far as the eye could see. I hope we get some proper rain soon.

Judith Field

Lyttelton Playing Fields, Kingsley Way, London, N2 0EE
 

Park of the week
63. Claremont Park and Exploratory Park
Claremont park, Barnet’s newest, opened in the Brent Cross Town development on June 9th, 2022. It has over three hundred new trees including apple, pear and cherry, wildflower meadows, green space with sports facilities, water features including a large pond with viewing deck, sandpits and water pumps for play, and nature trails. Natural materials have been used throughout – for example, the children’s climbing structure uses reclaimed timbers from Woolwich Pier.  There are drinking fountains, a community-run ice cream kiosk, and toilets. There’s emphasis on ecology with bat boxes, and houses for solitary bees; unfortunately, neither are large enough for me to fit inside. 
Next to Claremont Park is Brent Cross Exploratory Park, described as a temporary park. It was built on what had been the similarly named Clarefield Park , which we had visited in early 2020 when it consisted of a strip of grass with a few trees. It’s been completely transformed and was opened later in 2020. The space will be available for several years until Claremont Park is completed (I don’t know what more is to be done), when the equipment, trees and spaces will become part of it. The trees in Exploratory Park have been planted in pots for planned relocation.
Exploratory Park has a variety of play equipment for children. It has three main spaces: a paved area for events and games, an open grassy area, and an area with new play equipment. There is also outdoor table tennis, an outdoor gym, basketball court, and places to sit.
Visitors to both parks are ‘invited to walk, cycle or use public transport’, which is all very well for those without mobility issues or who fancy cycling along the Benighted North Circular Road. Parking is difficult and I had to drive round for some time before finding somewhere to park on the street. I asked Brent Cross Town about this, and in fact there’s a car park further along Claremont Way on the right – drive past Exploratory Park and follow the road round.
Both parks are closed overnight. At the moment, they are open from 7am-8pm.
Claremont Park and Exploratory Park
Claremont Way
London
NW2 1AJ