Monkden Hadley Common and Green

 After a really cold spell it has got positively mild - over 10C - so I decided to get up early and walk out to Monkden Hadley Common - about a two hour walk to reach it. Via Oak Hill Park.

The Park's Little Egret had returned

Hadley Green is fringed by some of London's most desirable houses, a fact you can tell by the copious security warning signs. The residents are keen to keep you out. But no law against looking...

This, as a board on the Green states, was the site of the Battle of Barnet in the War of the Roses. But what you see now is the result of 18th century merchants taking a liking to the spot (a decent distance from smelly London) and constructing a number of grand Georgian mansions.

Yes, this is what a duck house looks like

St Mary's Church is just really cute. Great (and peaceful) graveyard

Wilbraham's almshouses that apparently date back to 1612

Grandon, Fanny Trollope's home

Livingstone Cottage

Brewery Pond. From 1795 until 1969 the Hadley Brewery operated from around here before being demolished in 1978. Leaving the pond.

Monkden Hadley Common is essentially a strip of Oakwood left over from the enclosure of the King's hunting grounds at Enfield Chase. Now it is a bit muddy, but not a bad place to take small kids if you don't mind them getting dirty. Looks like proper woods but they can't really get lost as they aren't big enough

I like a good bit of fungus

Jack's Lake - really for anglers only

And I still got home in time to watch Coventry beat Brentford in the early kick off😊