Northwood - Harefield - Rickmansworth

The north of Hillingdon is the most rural part of the Borough and this walk takes in some of the best scenery, passing through the ancient Ruislip Woods and then pleasant open country, with fine views over the Colne valley to the west. It begins at Northwood, the last station on the Metropolitan Line still within a London Borough, visits the old village of Harefield, then crosses over the border into Hertfordshire to end at Rickmansworth (on the same line). Flat terrain, easy walking from Northwood to Bayhurst Woods, hilly around Harefield then flat to Rickmansworth.

Checked 2008

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Distances

Travel

Northwood and Rickmansworth stations are on the Metropolitan Line. Watford trains serve Northwood, Amersham/Chesham trains serve Rickmansworth, but usually do not stop at Northwood (you can change at Moor Park).
It is possible to leave the walk at Harefield by catching one of the following 3 buses from the centre of the village:
No 331 - runs daily (ca 15 min to Northwood station)
No R21 - runs Mon to Sat (ca 15 min to Rickmansworth station)
No U9 - runs Mon to Sat (ca 15 min to Uxbridge station).
Bus stops may be found opposite the Swan pub in Breakspear Road North and just beyond the Kings Arms in Park Lane.
It is also possible to catch the 331 from outside the White Horse pub, or the U9 from opposite, thus avoiding the walk into Harefield village.

Ordnance Survey Map

This walk is on O.S. Explorer Map 172, Chiltern Hills East.

Refreshments

There are several cafes and restaurants in Northwood, and 2 pubs (the Reindeer and the Misty Moon).
White Horse (on the route, no food at present), Kings Arms, The Swan - Harefield village.
Coy Carp (on the route) - Harefield Lock.
The Café in the Park - Rickmansworth Aquadrome (open every day during summer).
Many refreshment places in Rickmansworth, including the Fox & Hounds pub in High Street (on the route), several other pubs (eg. Mill House Tavern and The Pennsylvanian, both in High Street, and The Feathers in Church Street, next to St Mary's church), coffee bars and restaurants.

Please always be considerate about muddy boots in pubs etc; either take them off, or cover them up. Never eat or drink your own provisions on pub premises (including the garden, if there is one).

Route

From Northwood station exit, turn right down Station Approach and left up a driveway (opposite the footbridge on your right) to a footpath leading to Hallowell Road, with St John's Church on the left (this was used as a VAD - Voluntary Aid Detachment - hospital during WW1).
Turn right into Hallowell Road and then right again after ¼ mile (0.4 km) into Highfield Road, which goes over the railway and then winds down to Rickmansworth Road (with Highfield Crescent opposite).
Cross over, go left and then right down New Farm Lane, continuing down an enclosed path with gardens on the left, to a footpath junction with a 3-way signpost at the edge of a golf course.
Follow the footpath ahead across the golf course (watch out for golf balls) to a 3-way signpost at the approach to trees.
Go ahead on a boardwalk through the copse then over a small stream to reach a display board for Ruislip Woods Nature Reserve on your left.

Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve was one of the first natural history reserves in southern England, and the first site to be granted NNR status in Greater London (in May 1997; the only other NNR in London is Richmond Park). The woods are recorded in the Doomsday Book in 1068 and there are many species of plants and flowers that are only found in ancient woodlands. There are extensive areas of hornbeam coppice and common or sessile oak, and the remaining woods contain oak, birch, aspen, beech, hazel and sweet chestnut. Ruislip Woods was made a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1950.
The woods consist of five principal areas - Poor's Field, Mad Bess Wood, Bayhurst Wood, Park Wood and Copse Wood.
(English Nature. www.english-nature.org.uk)

Continue past the display board and a small pond on the left, following a path between fences to a kissing gate on the left.
Go through this gate (if the path is flooded here, try going round the other side of the pond, via another section of boardwalk and through a squeeze gate) and follow the path round the far edge of the pond, past an isolated signpost to a bridleway crossing.
Bear slightly right and continue for a further 150 yards between trees, and where the land opens out on the left turn right to follow a short path leading into Copse Wood.

Copse Wood (part of Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve) was formerly known as Coppice Wood, after the extensive coppicing of hornbeam and other trees for use as firewood and to make pea and bean sticks, furniture and tools.

Enter the woods at a gate then follow a path ahead as it climbs through trees, bearing slightly left after 130 yards, to reach a cross path after a further 70 yards.
Go left for 170 yards to a footpath crossing, then ahead for a further 140 yards to join the Hillingdon Trail at a wooden waymark post on your right.
Bear right for 100 yards to another Hillingdon Trail post at a plank bridge over a ditch.
Go ahead here (still on the Hillingdon Trail) through the SW corner of Copse Wood, going past rhododendron bushes on your left, until you reach Ducks Hill Road.
Cross half left (with care: this can be a busy road and the footpath emerges directly onto the road) and continue on the Hillingdon Trail through Mad Bess Wood, keeping straight on as indicated by the next five Hillingdon Trail signposts.
Continue 80 yards beyond the fifth signpost to the sixth, where the Hillingdon Trail sign shows you turn left.
Follow Hillingdon Trail waymark posts as the path winds downhill fairly close to the western edge of the woods on your right (but not as close as has been shown on Ordnance Survey maps), then at the fourth post (after 280 yards), turn right to cross a small stream, fork right to go past another Hillingdon Trail post after 50 yards and go ahead to a stile to reach Breakspear Road North.
Cross half right and continue up a driveway leading into Bayhurst Wood.

Bayhurst Wood Country Park was once a part of the Great Forest of Middlesex and is known to have been in the possession of the Hospitallers (Knights of St. John Hospital, Jerusalem) in the 13th century. The land was then granted by the king in 1542 to Robert Tyrwhit who shortly after sold it to the Newdigate family (lords of the manors of Harefield and Moorhall). It is now in the Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve. Principal trees include common oak, sessile oak, hornbeam, common beech, aspen, and sweet chestnut. It covers an area of 90 acres and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
(Source: Colne Valley Park Visitor Centre. )

Follow the driveway round to the right, past a green gate ahead (where the Hillingdon Trail loops away through the wood, rejoining the route further on) and under a high green barrier into the car park.
Cross to the far side of the car park and enter the woods on a footpath that runs roughly parallel with the right-hand edge of the wood.
Continue through the woods, reaching a small clearing with picnic tables on the left after 120 yards.
Continue straight on, leaving the clearing, then follow through trees for a further 250 yards to a Hillingdon Trail signpost (where it joins from the left, having looped through the woods).
In another 50 yards you come to a small clearing with a Hillingdon Trail display board.
Continue ahead in the wood, merging briefly with the bridleway on the right after 110 yards (where a branch of the bridleway also goes left).
Go ahead at a Hillingdon Trail signpost then, in 50 yards, take the right-hand path between fences (the other is the bridleway) to pass a stile (which you do not cross) on your right after a further 100 yards.
Ahead is another stile giving access to a footpath between fences. If this is overgrown take the parallel path on the left although this section can get muddy. Where the two paths merge continue ahead up to a line of hedging going off to the left. Within this is an overgrown footpath that was once the drive to Breakspear House (see below).
Ignore the gate to the left (leading to the old drive) and fork right over a stile at a Hillingdon Trail signpost.

Breakspear House takes its name from William Breakspear, who was in Harefield at the end of the 14th century. The estate was then held by the Ashby family for over 400 years, subsequently passing through various hands until it was acquired by the county council in 1942 as 'green belt' property. In 1956 the house was opened by the council as an old people's home and has now been converted to modern flats.

Go on through the wood (beyond the end of the fencing the house can be seen half right through trees) to emerge at a stile with an open field ahead.
Go straight on, with woods on the right, up to the top of a hill from which there is a good view looking back to the SE.
Cross over two stiles (one ahead and then another to the right) and continue on the Hillingdon Trail, ignoring a gap in the hedge after 140 yards and another 100 yards further on (giving access to a field).
Keep to the left of the hedge/fence, away from the wood edge, and continue up to the brow of the hill, from where the Colne valley can be seen to the left.
At the next signpost in the corner of the field, go left down to an awkward fence crossing (the metal gate to the left does not open) then ahead to another Hillingdon Trail.
Go left and then down through woods to a broken kissing gate and on past some ponds on the left and right until the path finally emerges at Harefield Church.

The Church of St. Mary is an ancient structure with a square tower and three bells. It contains four early brasses (the earliest dated 1444) and also tombs of important Harefield landowners: the Newdigates, Ashbys and the Countess of Derby (for whom Milton wrote his "Arcades" whilst residing in the neighbouring village of Horton).
Source: "The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland" (1868)

Go down the path ahead and bear left along the wall (where the Hillingdon Trail goes right at a stile) to come out at the front of the church. Alternatively, go through a gap in the wall on the left and cross the graveyard to the right of the church.

This area is known as Church Hill Fields. The Australian Military Cemetery, where there are many ANZAC war graves, is at the far end of the churchyard. During the First World War, Harefield Park house became an Australian hospital and an Australian cemetery was laid out in the churchyard. An obelisk was erected in 1921 and the archway and gate in 1924. Every year since 1921 a commemoration service has been held here on Anzac Day.

From the front of the church, turn right up the driveway to the main road, cross straight over (visibility is best here) and continue to the right up Church Hill, past the Countess of Derby's Almshouses opposite (founded in 1637) and the White Horse pub on the left.
After the road becomes High Street, turn left on Bird Lane at a Hillingdon Trail signpost (a little further on is Harefield village where refreshments may be had (see above).

[It is possible to leave the walk here by catching a bus near the White horse pub or in the village to nearby Metropolitan Line stations (see above for details)]

Harefield to Rickmansworth 4.5 miles (7 km)

Follow Bird Lane down to an enclosed path that leads downhill to a stile and Hillingdon Trail signpost (may be wet at the bottom in winter).
Continue up the other side (ignoring the style on the right) and turn left at another Hillingdon Trail signpost at the top, to continue on the Hillingdon Trail.
Follow the ridge, with fine views of the Colne valley to the left, before descending through trees to a stile.
Continue half right down the hill on the other side to a stile and a Harefield Locks display board in the far corner by the Grand Union Canal.
Go ahead on a track then left over the canal bridge at Black Jack's Lock (there was a restaurant here but the premises were sold in 2005 and are being converted to a private residence), then continue on the towpath to the right (crossing an overflow channel, where you briefly leave Hillingdon Borough) as far as the Coy Carp pub.
Cross the canal bridge to the right and follow Coppermill Lane (care, no pavement) past Royal Quay (formerly the copper mill) then turn left up Summerhouse Lane and right into Bellevue Terrace.
Go ahead past cottages on your left to an enclosed path to the left of Parkwood Farm Kennels, and follow this up through Park Wood to Hill End Road.
Turn left, go through the small village of Hill End and follow Springwell Lane (no footway, but the road is quiet) to where the road goes left at Cripps Farm Bungalow.
Go ahead to a farm gate labelled "Georges Yard" and through a smaller gate to the right, then straight ahead on a grassy path that meanders through varied countryside. This is one of the most rural parts of the whole Borough, close to the Hertfordshire border.
Just before a wooden kissing gate there is an old cast-iron post rusting by the side of the path, at the boundary between Hertfordshire and the old county of Middlesex (now the border with the London Borough of Hillingdon).

This former coal tax post is in a sad state but there are many that have been well maintained and attractively painted in white, with the arms of the City of London picked out in red and black (you will pass one when you cross the canal, 600 yards ahead).
From mediaeval times the City of London Corporation collected taxes ("metage") on coal and other commodities being brought into the city. Money from the coal tax was used for the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral, the Guildhall and Newgate Prison. In 1861 the London Coal and Wine Duties Continuance Act led to the setting up of new coal and wine tax posts.
The funds from this system were used to pay off debts and for the building of new bridges over the Thames, the Thames Embankment and many other construction projects in London. With the growth of canal and railway traffic, extra collecting points for taxes had to be set up outside the City boundaries and posts were erected by canals, railways, tracks and roads into London, forming a circle roughly 20 miles from the General Post Office in the City of London.
The tax was finally ended in 1889 but more than 200 of the posts survive - many of them Grade II listed.

Continue into the next field (now in Herts) and at the far corner go through a kissing gate then left on a track leading down to Stockers Farm.

Children of Men was filmed here in October 2005.

At a Colne Valley Trail waymark sign just before the farm, turn right up a short rise then go through a kissing gate and turn left to continue downhill to another kissing gate then a short path to the farm access road (where there is a wartime pillbox in the vegetation opposite). Bear left here, then right after a wooden barn, and follow the track away from the farm to rejoin the canal at Stockers Lock.

There is another boundary post on the other side of the canal, immediately to the left of the bridge in front of Stockers House, though the Hertfordshire/Hillingdon boundary now crosses the canal 600 yards further west.

Cross the canal bridge and continue ahead, past Stockers House on the left, then through a kissing gate to follow the path as it curves to the right, past the entrance to Stockers Lake Nature Reserve on the left.
At a path junction, turn right through gates into Rickmansworth Aquadrome and follow Colne Valley Trail markers to a boathouse on the left.
Continue ahead alongside the boathouse (where a Colne Valley Trail marker points right) to the edge of Bury Lake, then go right to follow a grassy track to the far end of the lake (where the Café in the Park is open in the summer months).
Continue around the edge of the lake to the left and then fork half right on a tarmac path (ignoring a gravel path further to the right), to stay on the Colne Valley Trail; Batchworth Lake is on the right.
At a footpath junction, turn right along the north edge of the lake and then turn left after public toilets (not always open) to cross a footbridge over the River Colne, to emerge onto Riverside Drive.
Go left and then cross at the zebra crossing, continuing for a short distance on the other side to a gap in the wall on the right.
Go through into Ebury Road and continue past Ebury Approach on the left, then go left on a footpath between houses (numbers 58 and 56).
Follow this through a car park, go to the right of Marks & Spencer, cross High Street, with the Fox & Hounds on the right (and many other possibilities for refreshments in the town), and continue up Parsonage Road opposite.
Follow Parsonage Road round to the busy Rectory Road and turn right under the railway bridge to Rickmansworth station.

Alan Sheppard