Park of the week

54. Finchley Way Open Space
 

Finchley Way Open Space is another hidden gem. It’s a nature reserve in West Finchley, about the size of a football pitch field, hidden behind well-established trees a few minutes’ walk from West Finchley Underground station. Few people seem to know about it or that it’s open to the public. We found it when I looked on a map for nearby green spaces that we might not have visited. 

The Space is the site of the former Brent Lodge house and gardens. In the late Middle Ages, the site had been small fields and wasteland. There had been a house there since at least the eighteenth century and by the early twentieth century the site had developed into a 26-acre estate with a grand house (Brent Lodge, built in 1810) and ornate gardens. In 1939 the house and its gardens were bequeathed to the people of Finchley with the stipulation that the site should be ‘retained always as an open space for the use and enjoyment always of the public’. The house was demolished in 1962. The Space is managed and maintained by the Friends of Finchley Way Open Space with the London Borough of Barnet Greenspaces Team.

There are three distinct parts to the u-shaped Space, an open Green Field (the site of the house) for play and sitting, and two areas of woodland: the Copse and the Orchard. The Orchard (shown on early maps as a kitchen garden) is being renovated as a wildlife area with informal seating. The paths are kept tidy and woodchipped. The Friends’ annual survey for 2021 found that people feel that the site needs to retain the tranquil, wild, and natural feel. So, some areas will continue to be left wild to provide a home for wildlife. 

The pupils from nearby Moss Hall Nursery School visit several times a week as part of their Forest School programme, which aims to build respect for the environment by learning outside the classroom.

Judith Field

Finchley Way Open Space is bordered by Finchley Way (the main entrance), Hamilton Way, The Drive, and Penstemon Close, N3.

Finchley Way Open Space, opposite number 6 Finchley Way, London N3 1AH