Stanmore Circular walk

Undulating route through various parks, commons and nature reserves in leafy North London, including the London Viewpoint

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date	Option	Post	#	Weather
Thu, 10-Aug-23		Evening Walk - Undulating route through parks, commons and nature reserves in leafy North London, including the London Viewpoint: Stanmore [New Walk]	11	warm and sunny

Thu, 10-Aug-23 : Evening Walk - Undulating route through parks, commons and nature reserves in leafy North London, including the London Viewpoint: Stanmore [New Walk] 11

Thomas G

Length: 8.7 km (5.4 mi) [Shorter and longer walks possible, see below]

Ascent/Descent: 154m

Net Walking Time: ca. 2 ¼ hours

Meet outside Stanmore Station (up the steps) at 18.45. Journey time from Baker Street is 28 minutes. Save some minutes by taking the Met Line to Wembley Park and change there.

Stanmore is the northerly terminus of the Jubilee Line and in Zone 5.

This undulating route in a leafy part of North London almost completely eschews roads and housing to lead through three separate large Nature Reserves or Commons with a couple of smaller green areas in between, providing for a large variety in ecologies, including secondary and ancient woodlands, streams and ponds, coarse grassland, unimproved neutral grassland, acid grassland, heathland, scrubland, open glades and wetlands. Many areas are rich in wildflowers, butterflies and moths.

You rise up through the fine Modernist Warren Estate and through the wooded Stanmore Country Park to Wood Farm Local Nature Reserve with the London Viewpoint and its panoramic views across London from Alexandra Palace to Heathrow via The City, Wembley and Harrow and out to the North Downs.

Descend through grassland and reascend through Cloisters Wood to reach the ridge of Stanmore Hill at Little Common. You pass Stanmore Common’s Brewer’s Ponds and in the decidedly wilder Common proper have a choice of routes through it.

Lastly, the descent through Bentley Priory NR, location of RAF Fighter Command during WWII, enchants with quiet grasslands and varied woods, as well as more vistas to parts of London. Also passed are a large artificial pond with a very old oak tree and a private deer park (the latter on a shortcut).

Walk Options:

Bus Line 142 travels along The Common (the A4140) and its Stanmore Priory Drive stop is passed 4.3 km into the walk. This connects to Stanmore and Edgware Tube Stations or to Watford Junction.

Extensions are described in Stanmore Country Park (add 350m), Stanmore Common (add 1.0 km) and in Bentley Priory NR (add 400m). The longest version of the route has 10.5 km.

Shortcuts are possible by cutting out the loop through Stanmore Common and by taking a more direct route through Bentley Priory Park, along the Deer Park on tarmac rather than through the grasslands and woods and past the ponds on partly mud-prone paths, or by taking a clockwise route around the pond.

An Alternative Ending leads along the main road through Stanmore (the A410), past more tea options.

Bus Lines travelling along the A410 through Stanmore to the Station cut up to 1.1 km on this option.

Refreshments:

Main Walk: Bistro 101 is recommended but closed for summer hols, Everest Abercorn and Agra Indian Restaurants.

Town Option: Spice Rack Lounge; Costa Coffee; The Oak Caffe (to 16.00 daily); Sahara Lounge; Barracuda restaurant; Caffé Nero (to 17.30 daily); Pizza Express; Cartons of Stanmore boulangerie.

There are no pubs in Stanmore

For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.56

Thomas G

10-Aug-23

The Jubilee Line had had the Gremlins at some point during rush hour, so much so that only one train every 10 minutes went north, resulting in severe overcrowding and some trains being short-stopped way south of Stanmore and people decanted. 10 walkers started about 5 minutes late therefore, aware that 1 other was delayed by plenty more minutes (she eventually caught up with us).
Up through the Country Park onto Wood Farm and to the London Viewpoint, which provided for crystal clear far views across all of London and to the North Downs. Better than I had seen on any of my recce walks. Down and up through another part of the Country Park and across to the Common for a short loop through the intriguing wood.
In Bentley Priory Park, soome of the natural and man-made features were pointed out and admired (ant hills, icehouses, the oldest tree in Middlesex (where several bats were observed), silt traps etc).
We then took the quieter of the two routes towards the station, where 5 branched off at The Everest Abercorn for a delicious meal and the 6 others walked on to the station.
11 warm and sunny