please empty your brain below
Good to see that Golders Hill Park is still as good as when it was a favourite Saturday car ride to a nice walk. Is it a zoo? Yes, as a collection of animals for public viewing. No because it's free entry. Makes quiz questions like "how many zoos in England" extremely moot.

Malcolm of Kent | 27.01.23 - 8:28 a.m. | #

It's registered with BIAZA, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, so it's a zoo.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 27.01.23 - 8:31 a.m. | #

I went there a few times in 1989 and they had flamingos in the pond.

daveid76 | 27.01.23 - 8:34 a.m. | #

Wow! A previously unknown to me unhidden gem. Have added to our monthly London gadabout list, however will wait until the mud abaits.

Para 2: ...entrance the toddlers, perhaps ...enchant the toddlers?

Ken | 27.01.23 - 9:21 a.m. | #

My local open space! Not sure why you only saw one deer, though they changed the mix of the fallow deer a couple of years ago, so that most of them are now dark coloured rather than the spotted "Bambi" type deer, making them harder to see.

Mikey C | 27.01.23 - 9:35 a.m. | #

Might I suggest "pergolating"...

Joho | Homepage | 27.01.23 - 9:47 a.m. | #

Vale of Health (great place name and for good measure, formally called Hatches Bottom) is where you'll find the location of the house in After Live lived in by Tony, dog Brandy and his late wife Lisa. Handy for the series star, writer, and Hampstead resident, Ricky Gervais.

Rod | 27.01.23 - 9:56 a.m. | #

Did you by any chance stop for a rest just south of the White Stone Pond? And if so, did you notice the brass plates on three seats, engraved with nothing but latitudes and longitudes? One refers to the North Pole, one to the South Pole, and the third to a rather obscure Japanese volcanic island. A local reporter tried to find out who put them there and why, with no success, but maybe one of your readers knows, or can guess the solution to what seems to be a riddle.

And as an occasional visitor I'm very sad to hear of Benugo increasing its stranglehold on cafes in London public spaces and buildings. I wonder if the Competition Commission would look at it.

Tony | 27.01.23 - 10:05 a.m. | #

That’s 7 letters away from Heathrow Airport.

David B | 27.01.23 - 10:47 a.m. | #

It was a childhood treat when Dad drove us kids to both the zoo and, more usually, Whitestone Pond where we'd happily sail our homemade boats until they inevitably sank.
Discovered the pergola more recently and it is indeed quite enchanting.
I feel the need for my own gadabout!

Cornish Cockney | 27.01.23 - 11:09 a.m. | #

I used to live in Redington Gardens (Frognal) and during the pandemic I roamed West and East Heath and the park and the zoo to no end. Is Jack's Straw castle already converted to luxury ? in my days it was still a dingy hulk.

This aread is full of surprises, including not far downhill from Whitestone Pond and the English Flag because of the Spanish Armada (you'll tell us the tale much better one day I'm sure), a Chinese Cultural Center where I never ever saw any Cultural activity and always suspected it was a spy's nest, sited there for better transmissions no doubt as it is close to high London points.

international reader | 27.01.23 - 3:00 p.m. | #

Benugo is my nemesis. The picnic benches outside the National Film Theatre under Waterloo Bridge were accessible to all. Then Benugo cordoned off the area. Liverpool Street Station had unused open space on the mezzanine. A place to sit on some steps eating my lunch and people watching. Then Benugo cordoned off the area.

MA | 27.01.23 - 3:10 p.m. | #

Golders Hill Park featured strongly throughout my childhood. There was a ridiculously-steep putting green, the "zoo" was fascinating, the squirrels near the walled garden were extremely assertive, and I lost a kite in a tree between the walled garden and the restaurant (which I remember best for lovely (takeaway) ice cream cones). Is Bull and Bush / North End in today's envelope perchance?!

DavidC | 27.01.23 - 4:20 p.m. | #

A week of nostalgia from you to me dg!
Like other commentators, I also regularly went to the park, zoo and putting green as a child with my parents. Took our own children there as well.
Also discovered the pergola more recently and amazingly have never been down that road to the Vale of Health; will correct that soon!

MikeK | 27.01.23 - 4:48 p.m. | #

I hope that the fairground will be able to continue to use that site during the winter, and be viable during the rest of the year. But I think that it is the one that has been put up for sale.

Bob L-S | 27.01.23 - 4:49 p.m. | #

Also one of my favourite stamping grounds, full of variety and little gems like the stumpery and the water gardens, as well as the kookaburras and Pergola over which I will henceforward trample with renewed interest. Just noted the travel footnote in your linked 2011 post - somewhat belated ha ha!

Strabismus | 27.01.23 - 8:51 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy