Londoners are well used to the urban sprawl - the way that developments spread futher and further out, swallowing up open land. Yet the addition of the extension to Hampstead Heath is the very opposite - with more green space being protected, conserved by the laws that protect this whole area from development.
One way into Hampstead Heath Extension is through an alleyway, where the pungent smell of wild garlic greats visitors who are out and about exploring the outer edges of Hampstead Heath.
Hampstead Heath Extension was once farm land and although it is more overgrown now there are still wide open spaces and we can imagine how this landscape would once have been.
Open space on Hamstead Heath Extension
Paths and bridleways cross this part of Hampstead Heath so that there can be good country walks around the Extension as well as taking the path that leads down to Sandy Heath.
One of the many paths
A bridleway
In one of the clearings an Oak sapling springs from the ground. If we could return in a few hundred years' time perhaps we could shelter under its branches along with the descendents of the creatures that live here now.
Oak sapling
Golders Green Station
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