ISE VALLEY VAGABONDS

 

Hampstead Permanent Trail BWF App No PT16

START & FINISH: Hampstead Underground Station, London

OS map 176 Grid Ref TQ264858 Distance 12km

Fee £1.00 Patch £2.00

Route last updated on 16 May 2010

This route description is valid until 31 December 2010

This walk has been established by members of the Ise Valley Vagabonds Walking Club (BWF Club No 70) and is a qualifying event in the IVV award scheme.

It can be walked at any time.

 

From the Hampstead Underground station entrance/exit on Hampstead High Street,turn right and walk uphill along Heath Street.

Turn right by the Friends Meeting House (Quakers) into Hampstead Square.

At the end, at Christ Church, turn left into Holford Road. Cross over the road ahead with care and go ahead on the gravel

footpath opposite, down towards the houses in the valley (Vale of Heath). Continue ahead along the road between the houses, taking the left fork after 50 metres, into an alleyway.

 

QUESTION 1. BEFORE ENTERING THE ALLEYWAY, ACCORDING TO THE BLUE PLAQUE, WHICH INDIAN POET STAYED HERE IN 1912?

 

At the end of the alley, turn right and follow the road round to the right. Turn left at Byron Villas. At the white posts, turn right onto the path for 50 meters and as soon as you reach the pond (Vale Heath Pond), turn left onto a gravel track between the

bushes. Go more or less straight ahead between and underneath the tall trees and between the seats. Where this path meets a large gravel track, by the ‘Mens Toilets’ sign, turn right (there are Ladies toilets here also).

Follow this track as it bends round to the right. The track crosses an iron-railed bridge, called Viaduct Bridge over

Viaduct Pond. Continue ahead for another 100 meters to reach an intersection of tracks.

Turn right downhill through the avenue of trees. Continue until you reach East Heath Road. Cross the road with care and turn right. Turn left Well Road.

After about 150 metres turn left between the bollards, down some steps and along an alley (Well Passage – name is at far end). Turn left at the old drinking fountain (this is Well Walk).

 

QUESTION 2. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE WELL (to be found on the reverse of the fountain)?

 

Cross over to the right hand side of the road. Turn right at the end of Well Walk and follow East Heath Road down hill. At the end of the pay and display car park, turn left, then right on the gravel path. Ahead on this path, keeping the road on the right,

to rejoin East Heath Road just before Hampstead Heath Station. Turn left into South Hill Park (The Magdala Tavern on the left is where Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged, shot her lover) and after 70 metres, fork right into Parliament Hill.

 

QUESTION 3. WHICH WRITER LIVED AT No 77?

 

Go ahead on the footpath onto Hampstead Heath. At the first crossing of footpaths, after about 100 meters, turn right and enjoy the unfolding panorama of London. (This is Kite Hill). Keep going straight ahead ignoring all side turnings until you come to

the brick buildings and café and toilets. Turn left between the tennis courts to the main road. Turn left and walk along to the left of the roundabout, along Highgate West Hill. Turn left into Millfield Lane. Soon after the bend to the right, opposite

Kenwood Cottage, turn left through the green barriers back onto Hampstead Heath and immediately turn right.

Follow the gravel path with the ponds on the left. At the end of the second pond (Model Boat Pond), go up the slope to a

metal fence. Turn right and follow the metal fence uphill. Go through a green barrier up to a T-junction

and turn left downhill, metal fence still on the left, to pass the Highgate Ladies Bathing Pond. Go through the green barrier, ignore the track to the left, and go ahead past a smaller pond (Stock Pond). Keep head uphill for approximately 250

metres to a small hut and park gate on the left in black railings. Turn left through the gate (Millfield Gate) into the grounds of Kenwood House. Immediately turn right along the path towards the house. Just before the house, turn right, signed ‘Kitchen

Garden’, keep right and go through Stable Field Gate. Continue ahead for about 120 metres to the Pagoda viewpoint for another look over London. Retrace your steps and walk across the front of Kenwood House. Immediately at the end of the house, turn right through the ivy arch and 60 metres further on, turn left onto the wide gravel path leading to the car park and road at West Lodge. Turn left along Hampstead Lane and follow to the pedestrian crossing 75 metres after The Spaniards Inn.

 

QUESTION 4. WHEN WAS THE SPANIARDS INN FOUNDED?

 

Cross over, turn right and then left, towards the woods to the right of the notice board and into the woods, taking the path on the extreme right hand edge of the woods, with houses on the right. Ahead down the wooden steps. Turn left just before the

road and continue, parallel with the road. Carry on ahead with houses on the right.

At the small posts, the path becomes a gravelled track and leads to a road.

Turn right into North End. Turn right at the pub. Cross over the road at the pedestrian crossing and turn right. After 25 metres, turn left into Heath Passage, and turn right at the road passing a barrier onto the track. After 20 meters, turn right into Golders

Hill Park (café and toilets). Inside the park, take the first tarmac path to the left.

Pass a bandstand. At the deer enclosure, turn right and follow the path to the left around the edge of the enclosure. Continue ahead on the path to leave the park through the black metal gates, then ahead for 25 meters to a T-junction in front of a

pond (Leg of Mutton Pond). Turn right and keep ahead until you reach a road. Turn left along West Heath Road. On a bend opposite an apartment block and about 100 metres after passing Templewood Avenue on the right, turn left onto a footpath.

Follow it ahead for 300 metres until it emerges by a flagstaff which marks London’s highest point. Keep to the left of the flagstaff and walk to the road. Turn right and go ahead (with pond on the left). (This is Whitestone Walk). Cross the road (West

Heath Road) onto the footpath. Follow this path along the left hand perimeter of the green area. Turn left through the trees by the seat, through a barrier and ahead into Windmill Hill. Go straight ahead over 2 roads. Turn left into Admirals Walk.

 

QUESTION 5. THERE IS A BROWN PLAQUE ON ADMIRAL’S HOUSE. WHO LIVED IN ADMIRAL’S HOUSE?

 

Go ahead into The Mount Square and keep to the left hand pavement. At Heath Street, the main road, turn right and follow downhill back to Hampstead Underground station.

 

We hope you have enjoyed the walk!

 

The Ise Valley Vagabonds have established other Permanent Trails at

Bedford (2), Chester, Daventry, Kempston, Kings Lynn, London (2), Marston Moretaine (2), Oxford, Rugby, Stamford, Stratford upon Avon, Warwick and Wellingborough.

They are all qualifying events towards the IVV award scheme.

 Further information about these walks, the IVV, the club and all its activities can be found by visiting our Web Site www.vagabonds.org.uk

 

 

THE ORGANISERS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ACCIDENTS, THEFT, AND/OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY.

EVERY EFFORT WILL BE MADE BY THE ORGANISERS TO MAKE THIS A SAFE, ENJOYABLE

AND MEMORABLE EVENT.