At last parks are now legally open to the public in the UK (provided correct social distancing procedures are practiced). We have wandered through some of our local parks in recent days and there was nothing to say we couldn’t have but now it’s nice to know that London’s open spaces are freely allowed to us.

The borough where we are currently staying is called Brent. It’s named after the eponymous river which, sourcing at the London borough of Barnet, flows eighteen miles before joining the Thames at (appropriately) Brentford.

A couple of days ago we decided to walk a stretch of this river by doing part of the Brent River Park walk.

Brent River Park has recently been improved with a new cycle path and wildlife conservation area. It’s now full of flora and fauna and, with its meadows and colonies of bats, is a truly welcome escape from the current claustrophic times. The only thing is that the park’s entrance is rather difficult to find, sandwiched as it is between a ‘normally’ busy junction of the Harrow Road with the North Circular.

On our route to the park we noted some interesting examples of urban art which pointed to the fact that nearby is the famous bikers’ Ace Cafe about which I have written about at

Ace Cafe

Sadly the children’s playground has been cordoned off for the duration. It’s so frustrating for parents and their young offspring, but then it’s easy for children to forget the rules of social distancing when they are playing.

The park has a pleasant mix of meadow and woodland.

In one area we came across a large concrete ball. It turned out to be the remains of the flag post on top of the eastern of Wembley’s twin towers from the old stadium demolished at the end of the nineteen nineties

A general view (GV) of the Wembley twin towers before the England game against Brazil – 19th May 1987. (Photo by Mark Leech/Getty Images)

It was quite an emotional experience to come across this remnant since I remember the old stadium very well, especially when we went to the market which used to be held before this iconic building where the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final took place between England and West Germany. It was the first and, so far, only time that England has won the World Cup. Of that fabulous team just the two Charltons, Stiles, Hunt and Hurst are still alive.

(That glorious moment for England in 1966)

We could have continued our walk for a further few miles but decided to turn back at a housing estate called Saint Raphael’s where we noted a pretty ecological growing area which supplies fresh food locally and a red.skin tipi:

(Photographs of Brent River Park courtesy of Alexandra Cipriani Pettitt)