Bentley Priory Nature Reserve - A Walk in Northwest London

In the fall I had taken a short walk, accessing the Bentley Prior Nature Reserve from Embry Way. On that journey we were able to enjoy hand-picked blackberries.

Today we parked our car along Old Lodge Way and navigated through through the specially designed turn stiles to keep animals in. We skipped the Boot Pond near the entry and moved along the paved path across the large field and into the woods. Along the way we had to moved aside to allow a car by (We think it was for a disabled person). With the warm sun out many people of all ages were in the nature reserve today despite the brisk temperatures.

About half way through the woods a group of individuals was busily working to clear some brush and maintain the woods. A little further along we came across the highlight of the day -- Heriots private deer park. The deer park nestles up against the reserve and can be enjoyed by passer-bys. A small group of people (many young children) were busily feeding the deer vegetables and bread. It was wonderful to watch a deer quickly chomp through an entire carrot. Though the fallow deer is not even the size of a great dane, some of the horns were still quite spectacular. While some of deer were busy enjoying food from the children's hands, others were laying in the middle of the field soaking up the sun's rays.

It took us about a liesurely hour to walk from one end of the south to the north end of the reserve. At the top of the hill we turned left and headed east towards Harrow Weald Common. Part way, we headed back south along a green, albeit very bumpy ground. The ground was quite soft in many places and I had to pick up the pram and carry it across. In general, if you decide to take a pram it is best to stick to the paved paths, but we were up for a little adventure. We were in search of Summerhouse Lake. After meandering across some difficult (muddy) areas we found the breast of the Lake's Dam. We were able to enjoy some ducks and a swan swimming. When we walked a little further we came across another swan in a bit of a predicament. There was ice across a portion of the water that was about 2cm thick and a swan was stuck in a small area in the middle of it. It seemed as thought the swan was not able to escape, though I am sure had we watched a little longer it would have found its way out.



That was the final event of the walk through Bentley Priory Nature Preserve, unless you consider the 15 minutes that it took to clean the mud off our shoes and the wheels of the pram. This is a place well worth a walk on a fair weather day and it can be revisited and enjoyed each time. It is an excellent place to take children for a day out to enjoy animals, woods and some fresh air.

Related Links:
http://www.harrowncf.org/Bentley_Priory_circular_walk.pdf
http://www.walklondon.org.uk/pointsofinterest/21bentleypriory.htm