Northala Fields

Very occasionally I drive in and out of London on the M40 and A40. I've noticed some interesting hills or mounds along the A40 portion - hills that I never really noticed before and were obviously man-made. They seemed to have appeared from nowhere. As I drive that route only very occasionally, they were a mystery to me, although I could see that it was some type of recreation area. So today, after spending several hours in a meeting in London, I decided to stop on my way home and check out what they were. I thought it would be a quick 15-20 minute stop. Instead I found much more than I expected - a wonderful oasis which drew me in and enticed me to spend a couple of hours there.

Firstly, there were 4 conical shaped mounds, the tallest of which (22 meters) had a path that wound its way to the top like a spiral. I climbed this tall one as well as one of the others which could be ascended by climbing up a narrow path straight to the top. When I got to the top of the larger one I was treated to a panoramic 360 degree view - London to the East, Heathrow to the South, Harrow to the North, and the Chilterns to the West. And below the mounds there was a beautiful park with meadows, streams, lakes, foot and cycle paths, several play grounds and of course the requisite cafe. I walked around the lakes and the meadows and it was hard to believe that there was a noisy highway on the other side of the mounds.

I didn't see anything at all which actually told me anything about where I was and what these mounds were. So I finally asked a woman who reached the top of the hill at the same time as I did. She explained that the park had originally been a playing field but had become neglected and derelict in recent years. The area was purchased by Ealing Council in 1997 for redevelopment into a country park. This was paid for by allowing spoil from the demolition of the original Wembley stadium to be deposited into these 4 large mounds which were later landscaped. The mounds also create a sound barrier the noise of the busy A40 to the north, which I am sure is appreciated by the surrounding housing estates. The park opened in 2008 after 4 years of work and has since won numerous awards. It is part of the larger Northolt Greenford Countryside park, over 100 hectares of green space in the north-west of the borough of Ealing.

I am sure I will try to make time to visit this park whenever I am travelling back and forth to London.

Major awards for Northala Fields - Europe’s largest land art

Northala Fields Country Park
Northala Fields - Greenford Park