Park of the week

186. Brook Farm Open Space

This large, grassy open space is in Whetstone and is part of the Dollis Valley Green Walk. This is a footpath route, set up in the London Borough of Barnet in the nineteen thirties. It runs for about 10 miles between Moat Mount Nature Reserve (in Mill Hill) and Hampstead Heath, passing through many green spaces and wildlife corridors along the way. The route mainly follows the course of Dollis Brook.

During the 18th Century, because the clay-based fields that make up the space were too heavy to plough, they were used to grow hay to feed horses travelling up the Great North Road. Now the old meadows are left uncut until the end of summer, allowing a wide variety of grasses, wildflowers and butterflies to thrive. The fields feature several ancient oak trees and old farm hedgerows which, no longer needed for containing livestock, have been left to grow.
In 1918 the local authority agreed that some of the site should be ploughed up for allotment use as a temporary wartime measure. It wasn’t until 1936 that the authority realised that the allotments, still in use by then as they are today, were occupying land that was meant as public open space. Eventually it was agreed that they could stay. 

The space has trees, footpaths and picnic tables and it's a nice place for a walk, enough room that we weren't on top of other people. Two paths run through it, I read somewhere that one is for pedestrians and the other for cyclists but we walked along both without getting run over. Dollis Brook does run through the space, with woodland along most of the bank. The stream is mainly shallow and most of it gets too much shade for aquatic plant growth.

A play area was opened at the Totteridge Lane end in 2022. The equipment still appears fresh and lacks graffiti, at least as of the time of writing this. It doesn’t have a basket swing, but does have one that’s a chair, and it’s large enough to accommodate even Jack’s not inconsiderable width.

There’s a pavilion at the northern end of the space with a car park, but we entered from Totteridge Lane. There are a few parking spaces outside the shops next to Totteridge and Whetstone station but we parked in a nearby side road. 

Judith Field

Brook Farm Open Space, London N20 8QL