Guideposts

Trent Park

Oakwood · 12 miles

The expanse of Trent Park stretches across roughly 320 hectares of green within the Metropolitan Green Belt, positioned near the Oakwood district of north London. The landscape forms part of a conservation area and holds a Grade II entry on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. Central to the grounds stands the former country house, itself a Grade II listed building together with several statues, an orangery and other ancillary structures that survive from the original estate. Historically the site originated in the fourteenth-century hunting grounds of Enfield Chase and later hosted a succession of private owners before becoming a secret World War II prisoner-of-war centre where covert recordings of German officers were made. After the war the house formed the Trent Park campus of Middlesex University until the campus was vacated in October 2012. The surrounding parkland has been known as Trent Country Park since 1973 and currently accommodates the Southgate Hockey Centre, a sports ground, and a building that formerly housed an indoor tennis court for royalty before being converted into a sports hall. A developer’s 2017 permission allows 262 new homes to be built on the former university site, with plans to retain the historic house and to house a museum on its lower floors. Visitors to the park can observe the listed mansion, its ornamental gardens and the Orangery, while the open fields support organised sport at the hockey centre. The nearest settlement is Oakwood, and the park’s status within the green belt and conservation area ensures its landscape remains largely unchanged despite recent redevelopment proposals.

Epping Forest District Museum

Enfield Island Village · 8.7 miles

Spy Green

Spring Hills · 5 miles

Set of two benches where a spy met his KGB handler. This is the spot where a Soviet spy was caught handing over information during the Cold War.

Mark Hall Park Playground (Elephant Park)

Mark Hall North · 6.8 miles

Locally know as the Elephant Park due to Elephant shaped climbing frames

F&B Conservation Area

Allen's Green · 7.5 miles

Private conservation area, managed and maintained by the infant school next door.

Knolly's Nursery Recreation Field

Upshire · 8.7 miles

Wildflower meadow and naturalised grassland owned by residents of Nursery Rise. Public access by permission. Knolly's Nursery is the name of the previous landholding and is not associated with the Sunshine Day Nursery to the north west.