I’m going to avoid making Teddy Bear’s Picnic jokes here.  Woods and forests are cool, not just literally.  There’s something really relaxing about taking a walk under the shade of closely packed trees, feeling the cool moisture in the air and watching as the wildlife either gets out of your way, or ignores you entirely as it’s just getting on.

Highgate Wood, in the north of my England’s fine capital, is not large but it’s pretty tranquil (28 Hectares according to the internet). I mean, that’s if you veer slightly off the beaten path and manage to avoid the children on microscooters and their trailing mothers.  A surviving fragment of the Great Forest of Middlesex, it’s been open to the public since 1886.  It’s remarkably easy to get to and so it was on a cloudy Sunday we took the Northern line up to Highgate and with a quick step off the high street were enveloped by the wood’s leafy fronds.  Bypassing the hordes and the ubiquitous English cricket match, the woods provided the perfect antidote to hangovers and general fuzzy headedness. 

This drinking fountain dating from 1888 proved to be the only notable feature of the otherwise pristine habitat (beyond a lovely cafe, heaving with young families).  It’s commemorative plaque shares a quote from Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

“Drink, pilgrim, here! Here rest! and if thy heart

be innocent, here too shalt thou refresh

thy spirit, listening to some gentle sound

or passing gale or hum of murmuring bees”

As it’s so small, there’s no real route I can recommend but it’s pretty easy to get to and is definitely a green dream if that’s what you’re looking for.  Instead here’s some pictures of trees which I took, and like.

Find out how to get to Highgate Wood via the always handy Google Maps