Park of the week

40. Princes Park

This quiet little park is hidden behind residential streets in Golders Green. When we first arrived, it looked like a typical urban park, with neat lawns, flowerbeds, shrubs and rose beds near the entrance, mostly edged by people’s back gardens. When we walked round the edges and I looked more closely at a small woodland at one end, the place began to look as though that part was a piece of much older forest. 

The park is a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation. It was opened in 1923 as part of the development of Golders Green, but a map dating from 1796 shows woodland in the same place. The oak trees in the park, particularly the ones along the edge of Oakfield Road, are older than the surrounding houses and there are also wild service trees and crab apple trees: evidence of a long history. 

The hawthorn hedges in the park could be the remains of farm hedgerows. My source of nature lore (aka Other Half) tells me that hawthorn leaves are called bread-and-cheese. I don’t recommend trying them because they taste nothing like it and, besides, there’s a café in the park. There are also toilets, tennis and multi-sport courts and play areas.

In February 2018, a memorial screen and small garden for Sir Nicholas Winton were installed in the park. Sir Nicholas was a British humanitarian who organised the evacuation of 669 children from Europe before the start of the Second World War. Most of the children were Jewish, and from Czechoslovakia, with the evacuation taking place on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport. Sir Nicholas found homes for the children and arranged for their safe passage to Britain.

There is access to the park from Oakfields Road NW11 and Park Way NW11. There’s no car park but spaces can be found on the surrounding streets.

Judith Field

Princes Park, Oakfields Road, London NW11 0JS