Park of the week

29. Barham Park

Barham Park is on the western border of Brent, just west of Wembley. It is a mature park, with landscaped gardens and less formal open areas. The park is a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation and has several historic features, including a formal walled garden and many fine old trees. It also has three ponds, a conifer plantation, a children's play area and an outdoor gym. I liked that there were so many different pathways to walk along and different environments to sit in. Outdoor space is a good thing, but sometimes I like to have different landscape features to look at rather than be in an open field. It can be good to visit a park where there’s a risk of someone like me, with little sense of direction, getting lost so that I have to make a note of landmarks so that we can find our way out again. 

The park was once grounds of the 18th-century Crabb’s House. By 1895, the estate was owned by Sir George Barham, who built Sudbury Lodge in the grounds. He was the founder of Express Dairies. It was the first British dairy to use glass milk bottles – before that, milkmen would have to fill jugs the customers provided. Sudbury Lodge was inherited by his son who, when he died in 1937, left the house and grounds to the citizens of Wembley. The house was demolished in 1956 but its foundations still stand in the walled garden. Also in the park is Crabb’s House, which survived and is now used as a library. 
The Chiltern Line railway embankment runs along the northern edge of the park and the dense vegetation alongside it provides a habitat for plants and animals.

There’s no café in the park and, as far as I can tell, there are no toilets. As for many of the parks we visit, there was an ice cream van parked outside which Jack spotted before we got out of the car. There’s a small car park, but we found a space on Harrow Road.

Judith Field

Barham Park, 660 Harrow Road, HA0 2HB