London Diary – Colne Valley Regional Park – Harefield and Batchworth Heights

May 31, 2020

This spring is the sunniest in England since 1929. Not too shabby! Now that restriction on movement has been eased a bit, we can drive to parks, etc. – as long as it is not too far away, since shops, restaurants and public facilities such as toilets are still not open.

Colne Valley Park, just 30 minutes by car, is just right. It is 27,000 acre big. Our 5 mile (8 kilo meters) walk, Harefield and Batchworth Heights, although touching only a tiny fraction of it, is a great route giving glimpses of the main features of the vast park, lovely countryside, farmlands, woodlands, River Colne, Grand Union Canal, many lakes, and residential neighbourhoods too. I spotted many Emperor Dragon flies, many horse farms, including the 17th century Stockers Farm featured in Black Beauty and other films, and an old metal coal tax post with City of London coat of arm, but not one cow or sheep in sight. We started from Rickmansworth Aquadrome, where many people were sunbathing, picnicking on the lawn by the lakes, luckily the rest of the path was very quiet, passing only few people. It was a wonderful time out!