The leaves may not yet be falling yet but there is a very autumnal feel about the heath – especially after a heavy shower when there is not a soul to be seen anywhere. Most unusual. I don’t know whether this is a particularly fecund year for oak trees, but I have never seen, felt …
Late summer birdsong
It has been such a miserable soggy few days that I thought a gentle wander through the woods with some late summer bird song might just raise the spirits.
WildWooders blackberry jam
This is the somewhat sad playground on the Hampstead Heath Extension, sparsely populated both with equipment and with children. No fun at all for the kids who live on either side of the Extension – like Olivia. So Olivia decided that she was going to do something about it. Like pick the blackberries that grew …
Random autumnal images
These two collections of hips are to be found just before you reach my path up to Hampstead Lane. I think they are both wild roses, but I they look rather different. Or maybe the bottom one is just not as healthy? Will Emma be able to tell us?….. A little further up toward the …
Hatfield gardens
The Knot garden at the Old Palace at Hatfield House is the work of the redoubtable Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury who died, aged 94, in 2016. The fiery daughter of the Earl of Dunraven and Mount Earl in County Limerick in Ireland, she married int the Cecil family in 1945 becoming Marchioness of Salisbury in …
Breakfast at Kenwood
Welcome to our new Walks on Hampstead Heath blog. Dedicated to our walks on the heath but also to gardens (both mine and others) and with the occasional guest appearance from Boris and Arwen – seen here fraternising on our scaffolding balcony. When I moved to Highgate back in February, one of the treats I …