Stanmore to Harrow Weald Walk

Saturday 24th May, and it’s another of the hilly London walks, this one starting at Stanmore, at the far end of the Jubilee Line. Boarding the tube at Bond Street, there were lots of football fans wearing red and white striped shirts, heading to the Premier League play off final between Sheffield United and Sunderland at Wembley. Claire, Madeleine, Lynne and I were all on the same tube train, so arriving at Stanmore we then met up with Louise, who had arrived earlier, and set off.

Exiting the station, we headed uphill passing some smart houses to enter Stanmore Country Park and continued climbing gradually uphill thorough woods and open grasslands to reach the summit of the common where there is a fabulous viewpoint with an information board identifying various landmarks in the distance and the Wembley Arch being very prominent.

We then continued, passing a rugby club, a small hamlet with village green, a couple of ponds which date back to Roman times and a cricket ground where a game was about to get underway. Crossing the road we continued through woodland to a small car park before entering a private road lined with some very posh houses before entering Bentley Priory Open Space/Nature Reserve, where long horn cattle were grazing.

We passed the cattle and soon came to a fenced compound on our left where we spotted some deer in the compound. However, having done the walk previously, I realised we had gone wrong and missed a turn. Still good job we did or we wouldn’t have seen the deer. Re-tracing our steps to the cattle, we rejoined the walk and soon stopped in front of Bentley Priory, which was a World War 2 RAF Command Centre, for lunch and saw a red kite being mobbed by 2 crows.

After lunch we continued through woods to the Grim’s Dyke House/Hotel, which was once owned by W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, who sadly died there in a tragic accident. We made our way through the surrounding woods with colourful rhododendrons making the woods feel like a fairy-tale enchanted forest, to a tranquil pond.

Retracing our steps through the “Enchanted Forest” we reached a final viewpoint with good views over Harrow and west London, before calling at a pleasant pub for some refreshment. After that it was a short walk to a bus stop and a short ride back to the Jubilee line to return home. The walk had been about 6 miles (I got that right for once) and the weather had been comfortable, cool but dry, all in all a good walk.

Trev Eley,  27th May 2025

Photos by Madeleine