Mill Hill East – Totteridge and Whetstone Walk 09.03.2014

Finally it seemed Spring had finally sprung, so we felt that would would take the opportunity to take a Sunday afternoon walk. We thought we start our journey at Mill Hill East, somewhere we had visited previously. This time we thought we would head in a different direction :-), turning away from Mill Hill East and down “Frith Lane”, to see where it may take us. As we started to stroll along, I noticed “Frith Grange Scout Camp” beside the road. I did think that this was an odd place to have a scout camp, but, from the little I can find out, this site was probably built in the early C20th. This was when the area would have been more of a Garden Suburb than the urban sprawl of today. This is the second scout camp I have come across, the other was “Lord Hyde Memorial Campsite” near Whippendell Woods. We carried on past the camp and decided to cross the road when I spotted the sign for a “Public Footpath” on the other side. After we had crossed, we glanced back and noticed a huge new development of houses, and did ponder if these had been built on an old hospital or perhaps it was something else? Particularly as there were tell tales signs of large old walls around….

These houses have been built on what is known as “Millbrook Park”. In the C18th this was agricultural land which was part of the Bittacy Farm, but by the early C19th it was absconded by Army and the Middlesex Regiment made its home here in the “Inglis Barracks”. The Barracks were named after Lieutenant General Sir William Inglis, hero of the Napoleonic Wars who was famous for rallying his troops with the refrain “Die hard!”. The Royal Engineers remained on site until the late 80’s, the site was decommissioned and when it was planned too be redeveloped into housing, school and public parks. The Officers’ Mess gardens have now been redeveloped as a public park and extended, with a new main entrance which opens out into a woodland garden and picnic area. The original metal gates have been retained.

From 2014 – 09.03.2014 – Mill Hill East – Totteridge and Whetstone walk

We headed down the lane, contrastingly lined with houses on one side and trees on the other. At the end of the road it met with a very muddy path and on our right was a large car park and a huge looking house and golf course! This was the “Finchley Golf Club House”. It was very ominous indeed and extremely large for a club house, I would not like to approach it place on a dark night that’s for sure! Nether Court as it was known, was constructed by the Victorian Businessman, Henry Thomas Tubbs between 1880 and 1883. It was once described as “the largest Victorian house built in Hendon Parish”. The house still retains some of its original features, including its stained glass windows which portray portray cartoons known as “Morning”, “Noon” and “Night”. We joined up with the path, which was gently sloping downhill, making it easy to walk. The golf course runs all alongside the rest of the path so if you wanted to watch a spot of golf, through trees of course, probably a good place to do it!

The path is well maintained and nice to walk, although it is quite dark in places as quite a number of trees and vegetation overhang it. All of a sudden, the path seemed to be like Piccadilly station, as lots of people came from different directions! The path had joined up with the “Dollis Valley Greenwalk” which runs alongside the “Dollis Valley Brook”. Obviously the bright sunshine had brought everyone out for a Sunday Afternoon Stroll. After debating which direction which to go, we found ourselves politely making our way past quite a number of people. The walk took us past people dipping for pondlife in the brook, trying to light a barbeque, the allotments and others just taking a lovely stroll along the stream.

From 2014 – 09.03.2014 – Mill Hill East – Totteridge and Whetstone walk

The valley walk took us out of the wilderness and into a suburban Park. It was bustling with everyone enjoying the sunshine, we just carried on meandering our way forward following the Valley way. I spotted a beautiful old art deco bridge, sadly it had some graffiti on it, it was shame as the architecture was quite lovely. The route was to take us once again into another park and this time it gave us a choice, either continue through the park or via the road, but we choose to continue on. However, little did we realise that would be lead out on the road anyway! It lead us past the “Old Finchleans” Memorial Ground. A small football ground established in 1898, originally it was a Rubgy ground but switched to Football by the School.

We found ourselves a little lost for a while along the road as we could not locate any signs for the “Dollis Valley Walk” for some reason. Using our instincts, followed what we both thought would be the line of the brook. Eventually we both spotted what we felt might the the entrance to the way once more, we were both right, we had reached the “Whestone Stray” open space. The “Stray”, was once part of Joseph Baxendale Estate. The area was eventually taken over by the Pickford Brothers who used as grazing ground for the 1000 or so horses used in their carrying business. The lush grass, was due horses dung which enriched the grass It was very pleasant to walk and as the sun was shining so brightly through the trees it made our walk even more lovely. It would have been a very quiet area but we did notice that a underground train thundered past on the far side, it was a pity that the Northern line runs parallel to this really nice green! We finally reached Totteridge and Whetstone where we had encountered this very entrance to the “Dollis Valleywalk” in a previous walk, it was nice feeling that we were tieing up loose ends!

We decided before we ended our walk for the day to walk up to the high street, where I spotted the “Griffin Pub”. Although the actual building dates from the early C19th, there has been an public house on this site for centuries, as this would have been a coaching inn. Buildings either side of the “Griffin” are C15th. There is even a stone outside the pub known as the Whetstone, question is was it for sharpen tools or a mounting block for climbing onto horses?! We ended our walk here by running for a bus home! Please feel free to browse through all the photos –

2014 – 09.03.2014 – Mill Hill East – Totteridge and Whetstone walk

<><

Grand Union Canal – Alperton – Paddington Basin – 23.02.2014

Our Sunday afternoon stroll was to take us along the Grand Union Canal, beginning at Alperton and was end at the Paddington Basin. As we started commenced our walk we soon became very aware that the towpath ran alongside a very industrial area, contrasting from our previous stroll. The canal wildlife did not seem to worry about the industry close by. Swans sat and preened themselves on the side of the canal ready to take yet another dip, whilst we were assaulted by a variety of smells emanating from various warehouses. It did make the walk a little more challenging as you couldn’t keep going without feeling that extra bit hungry LOL. Beyond the strange smelling warehouses, the towpath led us across a bridge. Not any ordinary bridge, but something that we had witnessed when we walked Offas Dyke and saw the “Pontcysyllte Aqueduct”, that helped canal boats fly across the river Dee valley. Unlike the Shropshire Aqueduct, as far as I could see this aqueduct was allowing the Canal Barges to soar above the North Circular! When it was originally constructed in 1801 this canal passage was built not traverse a roadway but the River Brent and when we were brave enough to look over the bridge we could just about see the river and the road.

Beyond the aqueduct we found ourselves walking under “Abbey Road”, sadly this is not the road immortalised famous by The Beatles :(. Further along we walked passed a very quaint old cottage, to which I quipped “That looks like a lock keepers house”, I didn’t realise how right I was! Just past the cottage we both spotted mechanisms for old lock gates. These were “Abandoned Lock Gates”, surplus to requirement, it almost sent a shiver down my spine to see, why had they been left to rot? What was the purpose of the lock? All very curious. After we had investigated the old lock we walked further down the path when we saw very large pub named the “Grand Junction Arms”, perhaps it original purpose was linked to the old lock?! As the pub was on the other side of the canal, we decided not to stop for a drink and continue on with the walk. Before long we came across yet another bridge, this time it was carrying “Old Oak Lane”. Old Oak Lane should not be mixed up with Old Oak Common Lane where the large Train Depot is located. Old Oak Lane is more famous for having the first station on the New North Main Line of the Great Western Railway, in the early C20th. If you are tall enough and you like trains, try peering over the large brick wall that runs alongside the tow path. We did and saw a very large train set :-)! Whilst we were trying our best to find ways of looking over the wall at trains, I glanced across the other side of the canal I noticed the “Mary SeaCole Memorial”.

From 2014 – 23.02.2014 – Grand Union Canal Walk – Alperton – Paddington Basin

This park is dedicated to a lady who committed her life to healing others. She lived in the C19th, born in Jamaica, where she married Edwin Seacole, Godson of Admiral Nelson. Unfortunately, a few years later he passed away and her next years were spent travelling. She visited her brother in Panama and found herself help healing the sick when doctors were unable too. When the Crimean war broke out she joined Florence Nightingale’s nurses, often risking her life by riding out to the front line to administer medicine. When the war left her bankrupt when it ended in 1856, over 80,000 people including members of the royal family attended a gala by the Thames to help her! One correspondent said of her –

“I trust that England will not forget one who nursed the sick, who sought out her wounded to aid and succour them, and who performed the last offices for some of her illustrious dead.”
Sir William Howard Russell, War Correspondent The Times Newspaper, 1857

This part of the canal is criss-crossed by a number of roads as it was not long before we were walking under yet another bridge. This time it was “Scrubs Lane”, the lane I understand, would have led us to infamous “Wormwood Scrubs” prison – Scary stuff! Walking through what was a lovely green area, we suddenly encountered a very built up area. I am sure that this would have been at one time a substantial Industrial site for Canal Barges to deliver their wares. Crossing a very high Brick built bridge we noticed a very tiny basin where a number of Barges could have moored very easily. The area is very lively now with tourists and has quite a number of retail outlets instead of warehouses. Therefore, the canal boats which moor near these establishments would probably deliver passengers rather than stock to any of the outlets… Further on, I cheekily glanced through a window of one of the properties only to see a very large model of Spiderman hovering in it! The window belonged to “Canalot Studios”, however I am unable to find anything relating to what Spiderman represents – nice to look at though 🙂 .

From 2014 – 23.02.2014 – Grand Union Canal Walk – Alperton – Paddington Basin

The further we walked into London the more pleasant the surroundings of the towpath became. The “Meanwhile Gardens” were beside the path for quite some time with ponds, well cared for trees and vegetation, this was such a change from the industrial warehouses we had just experienced. It was so refreshing that we decided to sit and take a break for a while and enjoy watching any boats that may meandering down the canal. Although we could have sat there for quite some time, we decided that we should keep on our journey. Whilst we had been sitting pondering about the canal we both noticed a ominous looking church. It was dark and not particularly inviting, almost eerie, the architecture made it feel like it should be in some sort of Murder story. We soon discovered that this was St Mary Magadelene Church the inspiration for PD James novel “Taste of Death”, I’m certainly not surprised! The church featured prominently in the 1949 film Blue Lamp, it also has been used in TV series such as “Poirot” and “Lewis”. Amazing one church could be used for so much!

Moving on from Church, we found ourselves seeing gondolas and singing “Just one cornetto …” as we had reached Venice. No, we had not walked all the way to Venice, Italy, we had reached “Little Venice”, where the Regents canal and Grand Union Canal merge. The term “Little Venice” has been credited to two people who may have coined the phrase – Lord Byron and the poet Robert Browning. Whoever created the phrase, in years gone past this would have been a small haven with calm waters, magnificent houses surrounding a junction of canals where colourful narrow boats sailed past evoking an image of the Italian Venice to both of them. All we were missing was the lovely sunshine and perhaps some Ice cream to really enjoy this charming area 🙂 . Carrying on from Little Venice we finally reached Paddington Station. Whilst most people were hurrying inside with their luggage, making the station that little bit manic, boaters and their pets relaxed idling their hours away, the stations only relaxed resident (despite being fictional) would have been Paddington bear 🙂

From 2014 – 23.02.2014 – Grand Union Canal Walk – Alperton – Paddington Basin

We finally reached the end of the canal, at “Paddington Basin”, it was quite strange to look at it was undergoing works. The very end of it had been drained and there was no water in it at all. A large tarpaulin held back the rest of the canal waters, it was odd to see the bottom of the canal it looked almost vulnerable somehow. The basin was built in 1801 as this was the terminus of the Paddington Branch of the Grand Union Canal, where goods were loaded onto barges so they could be delivered all the way to the midlands. The whole area is now very chic and surrounded by flats and restaurants.

We ended our walk here, but we did take the opportunity to walk onto Baker Street to take the train home, but we will revisit that famous street another time 🙂 Please feel free to browse through the photos by clicking on the photo below –

2014 – 23.02.2014 – Grand Union Canal Walk – Alperton – Paddington Basin

A Map of the route is –

<><