If you go down to the woods today you can’t be sure of a big surprise - but you can live in hope! A fair bit of this 10-11 mile walk will be spent amongst the trees but there’s plenty more to be seen and enjoyed too.

From Cockfosters station we will take the London Loop path into Trent Park, before taking a different path through part of Enfield Chase, a 12th century royal hunting forest described in the Doomsday Book as providing food for four thousand swine! We will continue through the pleasant Oak Wood (an odd name for a wood that’s mostly birch). Our route will take us near the old manor, which is currently being redeveloped, to Fish Pond, which is more like a small lake! From here we will climb a gentle slope up Ferny Hill to the 20 metre tall Sassoon’s Obelisk. This was originally erected in Wrest Park, Bedfordshire in the 18th Century but was moved to its current location by Sir Philip Sassoon in 1934. Joining the Jubilee Path for a few hundred yards (which also forms part of the London Loop) we will make our way to Hadley Wood (and some quite posh houses). Before lunch we will have a fairly brief encounter with Hadley Wood, pass through St. Mary’s Churchyard at Monken Hadley and see one set of the gates to Enfield Chase before we reach Hadley Common and then Hadley Green.

On leaving Hadley Common we will pass properties once occupied by the Scottish physician explorer and missionary, David Livingstone and the 19th century author, Fanny Trollope (mother of Anthony). From Monken Hadley Common we will enter Hadley Woods before crossing the railway. Our route through the woods will take us to the Covert Way Nature Reserve and on to Beech Hill Lake, also known as Jack’s Lake, one of three lakes created in the late 19th century by Squire Charles Jack who owned Beech Hill House. The house and the top two lakes are now owned by Hadley Wood Golf Club and cannot be accessed by the general public.

The final part of our walk takes us up another gentle hill through the wood before we pass through another set of gates out of Enfield Chase. From here it is a short walk past Cockfosters Bowls Club and Christ Church to the station for the journey home.

About 80% of our route is on green spaces and traffic free footpaths. The remainder is on roads with pavements.

A few hundred yards before the end of the walk those that want to chill out over a pint (or two!) can visit the Cock Inn. (With a name like that you’ve got to, haven’t you?) Food is also available for anyone that is hungry. This assumes that, as planned, Covid restrictions in public houses do not apply when this event takes place.