Towards the Heath Extension

If you look at the Corporation of London’s map of Hampstead Heath you will see this weird finger of heath at the top left – which is the Heath Extension. It is a relatively new addition to the heath and like most other bits, has a colourful history – of which more tomorrow.

For tonight I am planning to walk you down the right hand side of Sandy heath, the tree covered wadge of land which adjoins the extension,  and the exclusive developments that line that particular little corner.

And to make it even clearer where we are, here is a detail of that map. Spaniards Road runs along the top of the original heath area, cutting off the south of the heath from the north. And, as those of you live in London will know, just as people who live south of the Thames view North London as being rather more remote than  the Shetland Isles – so it would rarely occur to those who walk south of Spaniards Road to venture across to the other side, where wolves and bears might  attack….

Anyhow, I ventured….

I walked round the path through Kenwood on which I took you  few days ago, emerging onto Spaniards Road in between The Elms and Mount Tyndal. Both super luxurious and exclusive private estates. Amusingly, since I was obviously using my phone to film both, I was accosted by ‘security’. The Mount  Tyndal guy….

…was charming. Asked me politely what I was doing and when I told him we had the usual pleasant chat about how we were both finding lock down. While the guy at the Elms….

…if had had a dog would no doubt have set it onto me!

So I headed off across the road and down the side of Sandy Heath.

I will let you walk down there first and then those of you are interested can go onto take a look at a few of the houses (none spectacular to be honest, but quite exclusive) that run down Spaniards End beside Sandy heath.

(If you want to see the video you will need to click onto the blog as the email notification does not include the video.)

So turning  off Spaniards road opposite the friendly Mount Tyndal, you pass the back of the Spaniards Inn on the right and on the left is this rather fine white house.

The road then bends round to the left to accommodate a series of houses built I would suggest between the ’50s and the mid ’80s. Since I could find out nothing exciting about any of them, I will just run through a few of them….

Tomorrow we will cross Hamsptead Way and venture onto the Extension.

My daily blog now has an Instagram account! WalksonHampsteadHeath – the idea being to widen the circle of people who might enjoy a daily ramble across the heath. Please follow us and pass on the news!!

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