Park of the week

162. Northala Fields

Northala Fields Park is an award-winning green space in Northolt. Its building project began in 2004 with Ealing Council's decision to transform derelict land alongside the A40 at Northolt, which had once been Kensington and Chelsea's playing fields. It was opened in 2008, turning waste from the original Wembley Stadium and the new White City shopping centre into a new park. It won the Green Flag Award in 2009.

The four large conical earth mounds along the A40 edge of the site help to reduce visual and noise pollution and provide a unique landmark for the park and the borough. The third, and largest is 26m (84ft) high, with a spiral path to the top – looking like an Iron Age hill fort. We climbed the second, which like the other two mounds has a steep dirt track. Each mound has been created with varying soil conditions that supports wildflower and grass seed mix to give four distinct habitats.

New areas of habitat were created using native species of local provenance where possible. The approach to the design of Northala Fields was a careful balance of providing a significant contribution to biodiversity in the area, while ensuring that the design meets the requirements to minimise potential bird strike hazard to aircraft from the nearby Northolt Aerodrome.

The park has two playgrounds, a model boating lake, fishing lakes and wildlife ponds. The wetland habitats provide opportunities for wetland invertebrates including dragonflies and damselflies, while the diverse wildflower grassland provides resources for a number of terrestrial species of invertebrate.

There’s a Visitor's Centre including a café, public toilets, classrooms, and a fishing office. There are two small carparks, and I understand you can also park on local streets. 

These photos are taken from the top of the second mound. I love the look of the sky. It reminds me of when I was very young and my father told me that the sky was really a bowl above us, rather than the thin blue line I used to paint at the top of drawings.

As if that wasn’t enough, I have added another road roundabout to my list of the worst: the Target Roundabout on the A40, see the top of the map below. The worst is Gant’s Hill – unless  you know differently.

Judith Field

Northala Fields, Kensington Road, Northolt UB5 6UR