Circular walk from Chingford Golf Club

We had a beautiful 3.5 mile walk on a sunny Saturday 5th April when 8 of us met at The Holly Trail Café for a cuppa before setting off for Pole Hill. This is a good view-point looking across Chingford in one direction and the Enfield/River Lee reservoirs, with London beyond in the far distance. There’s a trig point at the view-point as well as an obelisk commemorating T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who in 1919 bought several acres of land and built himself a small hut here.

View of the forest canopy from Yates Meadow. Pole Hill is to the right of the picture.

We then headed away from the reservoirs - via a tree resembling a totem pole - making towards another view point: Yardley Hill. The instructions in the book HillWalking London were a little vague, as well as Google Maps placing the spot a bit to the east of it’s true position, so we didn’t quite make it. We then walked in the woods behind Yates Meadow towards Gilwell Park where we saw a beautiful butterfly (maybe a Peacock?), but then turned into the Meadow at the far end where there was another good view of the reservoirs and across the Lee Valley to Alexandra Palace.

We then headed downhill past a small stables with a couple of ponies, then on to Bury Road where we followed a footpath parallel to the road and on the edge of the wood, to get us back to the café.

Richard.  15th April 2025     Photo by Madeleine