Park of the week

61. Mapesbury Dell

We’ve visited large and small open spaces, some of the small ones are no more than the size of half a tennis court (with a swing and a seesaw). Recently, I found out about an official designation – ‘pocket park’. The elements of such a park vary, but typically it occupies less than 0.4 Hectares. This comes from a Government definition and I can’t visualise the size, although I understand that a tennis court occupies 0.02 Hectares. 

One such pocket park is Mapesbury Dell, a peaceful ‘secret garden’ in Cricklewood. It used to be known as the Hoveden Road Play Area and was an unwelcoming, derelict piece of wasteland, covered with graffiti, and only frequented by addicts and gangs. In 2000 local residents decided that this green space was too valuable to go to waste and began a campaign to transform the area. It was opened in 2005, by Bill Oddie.

The Dell is owned by Brent Council but there are legal agreements for the future running of the Dell through a steering committee, and Brent Council entered a binding covenant ensuring that the Dell will be kept as a park for the next eighty years. The maintenance of the park is largely down to volunteer gardeners and the Mapesbury Dell Trust raises money by holding events each year, such as the Midsummer Opera Evening, Wild Day, and Christmas Carols. 

It is designed to be wheelchair and buggy friendly and dogs must be kept on a lead. There are no toilets or café. It has a play area for children that doesn’t have the usual items, but instead wooden creations for play: a crocodile, play tepee and pirate ship. There are gardens with a varied collection of plants, an educational pond with wildlife, picnic tables, lawns and a central 'bouledrome’ area for boules and community events.  Bird feeders attract all sorts of bird life, and signs to help identify the birds. At the moment, my local Mill Hill birds are eating me out of house and home in fat balls, so it’s good to know they have somewhere else to go.

The park is open from 8am until about one hour before dusk, except for Mondays when it is closed until 12.30 for the gardening club. Parking is available on surrounding streets.

Judith Field

Mapesbury Dell, Hoveden Road (gated entrance between numbers 10 and 12), London, NW2 3XD