Hampstead Heath

Dear Grace,

I'm so glad Daddy did this adventure walk with us because I definitely needed his help getting you through the wooded park area, up and down the hills and over some muddy spots. We had no clue what we signed up for that Saturday morning when we headed out with you. Neither of us wore proper hiking shoes. I was even wearing a skirt and wedges. At least we packed lots of water. What was I thinking? Our highlights from the day were the shops in Hampstead Village, listening to the symphony, climbing trees, and drinking a pint at a doggie pub. Enjoy!

Cheers! Mummy

Walk #8. Poetry on Hampstead Heath 

"The Adventure: Ever since the eighteenth century, when Dr. Gibbons declared Hampstead's spa waters of medicinal value, people have flocked here. The village, with its steep high street, elegant houses, shops, cafes and wealthy inhabitants, feels a world away from central London, but is actually only a few stops up the Northern Line.

The Heath is Hampstead's prize. The wildness and beauty of its 800 acres of hills and heath, so close to the centre of one of the world's greatest cities is a great luxury for London. It is also one of London's most literary places. Some of England's greatest poets, artists and writers have lived nearby, or have been inspired by the Heath. John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Coleridge, John Constable, Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Katherine Mansfield, D.H. Lawrence and many others have all been drawn to the Heath. 

Bring your costumes to swim in the bathing ponds, walk through the woods, climb trees, go fishing, float boats on the water, like the young Shelley, and have a picnic in the long meadow grass." 

"Turn left out of the station on to Hampstead High Street and shortly left into the narrow, shop-fronted Flask Walk."

We went inside a fairy shop that had anything and everything fairy-like that you could ever imagine. They even have a fairy land in the basement for birthday parties. It reminded me so much of your friend, Audrey Spitzer, back home in the states. After making a small purchase we had lunch outside of this Italian restaurant. 

"Carry straight on downhill, passing a double red telephone box." 

"Set back, up on the left on the corner of New End Square, is Burgh House, now the home of the Hampstead Museum. Rudyard Kipling's daughter Elsie once lived in this house, and Kipling often visited."

Daddy gets excited when he sees cool cars. His passion for cars is shared with Grandpa Den and Uncle Matt.

"Turn right on to Willow Road and walk all the way around the corner to No. 2, a 1930s modernist house built by architect Erno Goldfinger as his family home. Now owned by the National Trust, it is a style guru's paradise. The rooms are flanked with works by artists including Man Ray and Henry Moore. James Bond's enemy was named after this Goldfinger. Ian Fleming, who lived around the corner, reputedly detested him."

How fun would it be to walk down this path every time you came home?

"Turn right into Keats Grove to take a look at the tragically romantic (and newly restored) Keats House, shortly on the left. This is where the young John Keats lived from 1818 to 1820 and where he fell in love with Fanny Brawne, the girl next door. Inside, you can see the engagement ring he secretly gave to Fanny, and the bed he slept in when he first became ill with tuberculosis. He left Hampstead for Rome and warmer weather on doctor's advice, but died just months later, aged twenty-five." 

"Head into the Heath, where you will soon pass the first of several ponds on your right. Take the path across the second pond."

"To your left is the mixed-bathing pond where you can brave wild swimming in the summer months. Men-only and women-only ponds are to be found on the other side of the Heath."

"Immediately after this, turn left off the main path on to a smaller one, then fork right up into the trees. The Heath is wooded to the left, with lots of trees to climb and explore."

"Shortly you reach an old stone bridge above another pond; the path carries on uphill through the Heath."

This was a toilet hidden back behind the trees. It is advertised and fully equipped as a handicap public toilet.  This made us smile, because to get to this point we had to climb up and down several hills, and through the dirt and mud. Not realizing I had signed us up for a hike, I'm curious how someone who would use this handicap toilet would have arrived to this point???

"Just ahead, to the left of the path, is a round ice-house. Keeping the ice-house on our left, head off the main path here, down a small path towards some fairground caravans."

"At the bottom, turn left towards another pond. Walk around it and turn right up the muddy path around the back of it. This would be a good pond to fish in (you need a license); or you could float paper boats, as Shelley once did here."

"Follow the path into the trees towards the Vale of Health, a collection of cottages and villas. Turn right at the road and walk through the houses, looking out for literary plaques as you go."

Daddy found something else worth taking a picture of other than the literary plaques.

"Wiggle through until you come to the end and face the Heath again." Grace, you were so happy that I decided to take you out to stretch your little baby legs.

"At the top is an open green, with a path ahead on the far side of the clearing. Cut across the grass and pick up the path ahead, turning left into the woods sleeply down to the bottom and up the other side again, keeping straight on.

The path is now wide and wooded, littered with great fallen trunks. Keep going straight until you reach the fence of the Iveagh Bequest, the more formal section of Hampstead Heath with its grand art gallery and cafe in Kenwood House. Look for the Westfield Gate to your right."

"Go through the gate and take the left path. Soon you are in open common, with long grass and wildflower meadows in the early summer." We stopped here because you were hungry. Daddy and I will always remember this moment with you. It was a beautiful sunny day and an orchestra started playing in the distance! So Relaxing! Check out our view.

View to the left...

View straight ahead...

And views to our right... 

"Over the brow of the hill is a large fallen tree trunk. Turn left here and head up the hill into the woods, towards a 1960s block of flats at the top. Walk up the road ahead leaving the Heath through Ikin Gate." Isn't your Daddy so handsome? I'm so glad he did this walk with us because I definitely needed his help getting you through this wooded park area. What was I thinking? 

"If you want a pub stop, turn right at Spaniards Road and head for the Spaniards Inn, where Black Bess was reputedly stabled for Dick Turpin, and where the poets and artists of Hampstead would meet."

YES PLEASE...

Nothing like a pint of room temperature beer after hiking through the woods wearing wedges and pushing a pram. Just kidding...I wonder if I'll ever get used to not drinking cold beer in these next several months?

I am a dog lover, but this place had some interesting dog features. The pub was packed, but there was no dog in sight. :(

We left the pub and headed back toward the Heath.

More historic plaques. 

"The Heath feels different here, with gorse bushes and fewer trees."

Daddy and I agreed with this comment. It just felt different here. We felt like we had just entered a movie scene for Robin Hood. 

Daddy was very excited when we found this pond covered in green algae. I think he was just enjoying the pints he drank at the pub. :)

"Pass the pond and follow and follow the path as it veers right down the hill, with a wooden fence in front of you, towards the houses and a small road called North End."

We thought this was a neat door/entrance to a house.

"At the top, turn right toward the red brick houses and the main road." FINALLY! Daddy and I were very tired at this point and were ready to be home with you. 

More historic plaques. 

Soap maker and Philanthropist. Hmmm....

We walked down another hill, past a roundabout, down another hill  and past one last pond toward our tube station. Before heading home we went back to the original shops in Hampstead Village for a well deserved gelato.