Ridley

Crossness Nature Reserve

Belvedere · 12 miles

Covering 25.5 hectares on the historic Thames floodplain, Crossness Nature Reserve lies in the Crossness area of the London Borough of Bexley, close to Belvedere. The site forms part of the Erith Marshes Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and represents one of the few remaining grazing marshes in London. Its landscape includes the borough’s largest reedbeds, a network of ponds and ditches, scrub and rough grassland. Recorded wildlife comprises around 130 bird species, a notable water-vole population, several rare invertebrates such as five water-beetle species and the nationally scarce Shrill Carder bee, together with plants like Borrer’s saltmarsh grass and frog rush, which was once thought extinct in Kent. The reserve was created in 1994 under a Section 106 planning agreement and is owned and managed by Thames Water, with day-to-day stewardship provided by the RSPB. A Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve group assists with the care of protected zones that are not publicly accessible. The western perimeter abuts the Crossness Sewage Treatment Works and the northern edge borders a Cory-operated waste-management facility. Between 2005 and 2011 the Belvedere Green Links project invested one million pounds in restoring the southern marsh and related infrastructure, funded by the Homes & Communities Agency, the European Regional Development Fund and the Greater London Authority, with Bexley Council as a key stakeholder. In the early 2020s a proposal by Cory for a carbon-capture installation covering roughly 11 % of the reserve was approved in November 2025 despite local opposition.

The Tarn

Well Hall · 13 miles

A wooded lakeside site on the eastern side of Court Road, opposite Mottingham railway station, offers a mixture of open garden, water and protected wildlife. Covering nine acres in the Royal Borough of Greenwich (postcode SE9 5AQ), the area was once the southern part of the Great Park attached to Eltham Palace, used for royal deer hunting until the English Civil War. After the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich bought the land from the neighbouring Royal Blackheath Golf Club, the public garden opened in 1935 and has remained largely as laid out in the 1930s. The central part of the site surrounds a two-acre lake, historically called Starbuck’s Pond, and provides a circular walk that follows the shoreline, crosses a wooden footbridge and links the two gated entrances. Along the route visitors find a range of benches, a gazebo, a public-toilet block with a veranda shelter and an 18th-century brick ice well that is Grade II listed and viewable through a fenced opening. The park is wheelchair-accessible on most routes, although a few steps remain near the north-west and south-west entrances. Dogs are not permitted to protect the resident birds. Half of the nine-acre area is fenced off as a bird-sanctuary nature reserve, where species such as mallard, Canada goose, rose-ringed parakeet and swan are regularly observed, alongside foxes, squirrels, frogs and bats. The lake supports a small stickleback population and is fed by the Little Quaggy stream. Access is via Court Road; the nearest town is Well Hall, and entry is free.

Woodlands Farm

Shooter's Hill · 13 miles

The 89-acre Woodlands urban farm lies on the east side of Shooter’s Hill in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, southeast London, just north of the A207. It sits roughly two kilometres south of Plumstead and one and a half kilometres west of Welling, forming part of a protected green corridor that links Eltham, Plumstead and Welling. A small watercourse, the Wogebourne, runs northward across the fields and is fed by several tributaries, adding a natural feature to the landscape. The site borders the Greenwich Equestrian Skills Centre, a legacy of the London Olympic Games, and is managed by the Woodlands Farm Trust, a registered charity. Originally laid out in the early nineteenth century as a 122-acre farm under the Baldock family, the land was bought in 1919 by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society and later operated as a model pig farm. During the Second World War it served briefly as a prisoner-of-war camp. Threatened in the 1980s by a proposed East London River Crossing, the farm was saved after a European-wide campaign and, in 1997, the Co-operative Group granted the Trust a 999-year lease at a peppercorn rent. Today the farm concentrates on conservation, sustainable agriculture and educational activities, hosting regular farm shows and an education centre that welcomes school groups and other visitors. Entry is free and opening times are published on the farm’s listing.

Ingrebourne Marshes SSSI

South Hornchurch · 13 miles

The largest stretch of freshwater marsh within Greater London extends along both banks of the River Ingrebourne in Hornchurch, forming a 74.8-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. Managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, the site contains extensive reed sweet-grass, common reed swamp, wet neutral grassland and tall fen, supporting a notable range of invertebrates and breeding birds. Sixteen nationally scarce species of flies, beetles, dragonflies and crickets have been recorded, together with two Red Data Book species – the hoverfly *Anasimyia interpuncta* and the scarce emerald damselfly *Lestes dryas*. Sixty-one bird species breed regularly, including common redshank, northern lapwing and reed-warbler, while common cuckoos are known to parasitise reed-warbler and sedge-warbler nests. Havering Council has intervened by raising water levels and re-introducing grazing to maintain the wetland’s condition. Public entry is limited to the eastern strip that runs from the river to Berwick Pond Road, where the reservoir at Berwick Pond is open for fishing and can be viewed from Hornchurch Country Park. The remainder of the marshes is largely closed to visitors, although sections are observable from the park’s perimeter. Access points are provided from Hornchurch Country Park and from Berwick Pond Road; no admission charge is mentioned, and facilities are confined to the existing park infrastructure.

RAF Hornchurch Heritage Centre

Havering · 14 miles

The former RAF Hornchurch sector station, now presented through the RAF Hornchurch Heritage Centre, lies in the parish of Hornchurch within the London Borough of Havering, southeast of Romford. Designated as a history museum, the centre offers insight into the airfield’s evolution from its origins as Sutton’s Farm during the First World War to its closure in 1962. Visitors can trace the development of the site from the 1915 establishment of the London Air Defence Area, when the landing ground first hosted BE2c aircraft, through its re-opening in 1928 as a key fighter station defending London and the Thames corridor. Exhibits illustrate the succession of squadrons that operated from the field, including 39 (Home Defence) Squadron, 78 Squadron and later units that took part in the Battle of Britain and the Dieppe Raid. The centre highlights the actions of pilots such as Lt William Leefe Robinson, VC, and Lt Wulstan Tempest, DSO, whose interceptions of enemy airships are commemorated in local street names. Displays also cover the airfield’s role in cross-channel operations, the deployment of barrage balloons in 1944, and its final use as a marshalling base. The heritage centre is listed on OpenStreetMap as a museum of historical type, with Havering identified as the nearest town for visitors planning their journey.

Boer War Memorial

Woolwich · 14 miles

The Boer War Memorial in Woolwich is opposite the Royal Artillery Barracks on Grand Depot Road in Woolwich. The memorial marks the deaths of the 18 soldiers of the 61st Battery Royal Field Artillery who died in the Second Boer War. The memorial is a tall thin pink granite obelisk on a square plinth with a three-step base.