This month sees the start of a summer of artistic and cultural activity in Wanstead Park, east London, to mark the park’s 125th anniversary as a public open space. This month’s walk explores this beautiful formal park, one of London’s less well-known green spaces, then follows bridle paths through the neighbouring Epping Forest, whose 6,000 acres of woodland and open grass stretch for 12 miles through east London and into Essex. The final part of the walk loops back to Wanstead through quiet Victorian streets.

Walk highlights

George Green
Wanstead Park
Aldersbrook Conservation Area
Wanstead High Street
Epping Forest

Type of walk: circular with break off points. The route of this walk forms two rough circles (see map), giving you the option of a shorter or longer walk.

Distance: full walk: 6 miles approx; shorter walks (Wanstead Park or Epping Forest) 3 miles approx.

Time taken: full walk 2.5 to 3 hours; shorter walks one to 1.5 hours.

Start and finish: Wanstead station (central line tube). Come out of the station opposite The George pub with its elaborate twin copper domes marking the start of Wanstead High Street and turn immediately left into The Green with the open grassland of George Green on your right. It is hard to imagine now, but in the 1990s, this quiet green space was the focus of vociferous anti-road protests, as campaigners fought to prevent the building of the M11 link road through Wanstead and neighbouring Leytonstone. Protesters climbed into the branches of a 300-year-old chestnut tree on George Green and held out against police until the tree was eventually cut down and the road was opened in 1999. The road now runs in a cut-and-cover tunnel underneath George Green.

Continue ahead across Redbridge Lane and into St Mary’s Avenue, past large turn-of the century suburban houses, to the junction with Overton Drive and the handsome Georgian porticoed church of St Mary the Virgin. Turn left into Overton Drive and right at the end into Warren Road with Wanstead Golf Course on your left.

The golf course was once the site of Wanstead House, a vast Palladian mansion with a 200 foot wide frontage, built in 1720. But 185 years ago this summer, in 1822, the profligate owner, the 4th Earl of Mornington, was forced to sell off the contents in a marathon 32-day auction to pay off his £250,000 debt. No buyer came forward to buy the house and it was demolished the following year.

Look for an gap in the fence to your left between wooden posts and go through the gap into Wanstead Park. These grounds were once the landscaped gardens of Wanstead House, laid out in formal style with ornamental ponds, a grotto and a temple. The gardens have been lovingly preserved as a public park by the Corporation of London, which bought them for the public 125 years ago in 1882 and has managed them ever since. The wealthy Corporation has been instrumental over past centuries in rescuing London’s green spaces from development and enclosures and opening them up to the public. Its spaces, including Hampstead Heath and Queen’s Park, as well as Wanstead Park and Epping Forest are some of the best-looked after in London.

Continue straight down a tarmac path between rhodedendron bushes and woods full of bluebells in spring, to a series of ornamental ponds and islands. Turn right and follow the path round with the ponds on your left, watching out for herons and other wildlife. Where the path starts to slope upwards, the walk route follows it up straight ahead. But it is worth diverting briefly along the path to the left to see the ruined grotto, originally built as an elaborate boat house, perched at the edge of the lake.

Return to the path and head up to a wide stretch of open grassland. A clear path leads across the grass to the Temple. The initial view is from the back as you come up the path and it does not look promising, dominated as it is by an ugly modern house. But the Temple, an eighteenth century garden house, has a handsome pillared porch and a raised lawn in front, with sweeping views over the park. Starting at the end of this month, the Temple will be the backdrop for a summer programme of plays, exhibitions and other events, celebrating the park’s 125th birthday as a public space.

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