Hare Street

Chigwell Row Wood

Chigwell Row · 11 miles

Chigwell Row Wood is a 14.1 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Chigwell in Epping Forest district, Essex. It is owned by The Chigwell Row Recreation Ground Charity, of which the district council are the trustees, and managed by council staff and volunteers.

Highams Park Boating Lake

Highams Park · 11 miles

The lake, created in the early 19th century when landscape gardener Humphry Repton redirected the River Ching, forms the water-centre of Highams Park in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Repton’s 1793 plan turned a flood-prone site into the present lake, which later became part of the grounds of the Manor of Highams – a house built in 1768 and subsequently used as a Crimean-War hospital before becoming Woodford County High School for Girls. The water feature was opened to the public in the late 19th century and now lies within the larger parkland that borders Woodford Green and the Highams Estate. Boating has been a long-standing activity on the lake, with an “old boathouse” serving the community for more than a century. The building is currently leased from the Corporation of London by the Waltham Forest South District Scouts, who have restored it for use by local sailing clubs. Historically the lake hosted child-size Flies built by club owner Ken Ford and larger yachts such as the Moth IV; a 1970s appearance on the BBC programme *Blue Peter* highlighted a large yacht being lifted from the boathouse for a sea transfer. Recent engineering reports have classified the lake as a Category A reservoir, prompting plans to raise the dam while preserving Repton’s landscape design. The lake is identified on OpenStreetMap as a natural water feature near the Highams Park neighbourhood, and can be reached on foot from the surrounding residential area. As a public amenity, it does not require an admission charge, and the adjacent park provides open access for walkers and visitors.

Bedfords Park

Chase Cross · 12 miles

Spanning roughly 215 acres of mixed parkland and deciduous wood, Bedfords Park lies on a south-facing slope near Havering-atte-Bower in the London Borough of Havering, with Chase Cross as the nearest settlement. The terrain rises to about 110 metres above sea level, offering outlooks across east London and the River Thames towards Kent. A ridge capped by chalky boulder clay supports the Round Pond, while the park narrows at the crest and widens as it descends southwards, creating a varied natural setting that has earned it designation as a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and a local nature reserve. The area originated from the medieval Bedfords and Earls estates, linked to families such as de Bedford in the late 13th century and later to the Arundel earldom. Ownership passed through figures including Thomas Cooke, future Lord Mayor of London, and the Heaton family, who rebuilt the house as a two-storey brick mansion before it fell into disuse. Romford Urban District Council acquired the land in 1933, opened it to the public the following year and established a natural-history museum and a herd of red deer. During the Second World War the house served the Auxiliary Fire Service, later becoming council archives before being demolished in 1959; the surviving stable block and an avenue of mature horse chestnut trees trace the former lane. A visitor centre, now operated by the Essex Wildlife Trust, occupies the mansion’s former site, while the historic Queen Anne Oak, removed in the late 1980s, was replaced by a commemorative planting. Access is provided by a vehicle entrance on Broxhill Road to the north, pedestrian routes from Lower Bedfords Road on the southern edge, and a permissive footpath from Orange Tree Hill. The park is managed by Havering Council, and the visitor centre offers information and facilities, though no specific admission charges are recorded. The Green Flag Award recognised its standards from 2007 through at least 2013.

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.

Dagnam Park

Harold Hill · 12 miles

Dagnam Park is a public park located in Harold Hill in the London Borough of Havering.

Tottenham Marshes

Upper Edmonton · 13 miles

Covering more than 100 acres, the Tottenham Marshes lie in the London Borough of Haringey, close to Upper Edmonton. Managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, the site forms part of the wider Lee Valley Park network and is split into three sections – Clendish Marsh, Wild Marsh West and Wild Marsh East – the latter two being divided by the River Lea. The area is recognised as one of the few remaining examples of semi-natural wetland within Greater London. A mixture of neutral grassland, sedge marsh, reed swamp, sallow scrub and tall-herb vegetation creates a varied habitat that supports plant species such as wall bedstraw, yellow vetchling, bee orchid and Babington’s poppy. Invertebrate and bird life includes the brown argus butterfly, skylark and short-eared owl, species that are relatively uncommon in the capital. Historically the marshes originated as a flood plain of the River Lea. Between the 1860s and the 1930s the site accommodated recreational facilities including tennis courts and a swimming area. Post-World War II, from 1946 to 1960, the land was used for gravel extraction and landfill, and in the late-19th century the River Lea was diverted to allow construction of part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain, bisecting Wild Marsh East. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club first played there in 1882. The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, established by an Act of Parliament in 1965, purchased the marshes in 1972, securing their present status as a public park.