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View of central London from Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a seven hundred acre open area of heath and woodland stretching along a ridge in north London. It is only four miles from central London, which from certain places on the Heath can be seen stretched out far below. When Dick Whittington came to London this would have been his first view of the city.
Lime Avenue, Hampstead Heath
The nineteenth century poet John Keats lived on the edge of Hampstead Heath in a house then called Wentworth Place. He would often walk here, and the landscape influences much of his poetry. Critics at the time were snooty about Hampstead Heath as a setting for poetry. It didn't seem quite proper, not the same as the natural glories of the Lake District apparently. But in reality the Lake District was not the "natural" place it seemed to be, shaped as it was by man's activities over hundreds of years. Man's relationship with nature was changing. In the sixteenth century nature had been something to hide from. By the eighteenth century Coleridge would write about nature as a Pleasure Dome for the king Kubla Khan. By the nineteenth century when the youthful John Keats was taking the torch from the older generation of Wordsworth and Coleridge, Hampstead Heath was a kind of universal demonstration of nature in the modern world. Wilke Collins called Hampstead Heath "a suburban Nirvana" (quoted in Keats by Andrew Motion). Instead of walking across great fells and wide valleys, most people were now town dwellers, and would take a walk with the dog across Hampstead Heath. They could be back home in time for a mid morning snack. But this experience of nature was no less valid than any other experience. Short walks on Hampstead Heath actually sum up the big picture of nature. The Heath was an idealised natural space for town dwellers looking back fondly on a rural past which had never really been like this. There is more to learn here about nature in the modern world than there is walking across mountain ranges. In Keats poem Endymion it is from small quiet corners of nature, from a bower, that the journey takes flight. The small scale of life is related to the vastness that lies beyond:
"... even as the trees
That whisper round a temple become soon
Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon"
Keats once wrote the following about the work of a spider: "The points of leaves and twigs on which the Spider begins her work are few and she fills the Air with a beautiful circulating: man should be content with a few points to tip with the fine Webb of his Soul and weave a tapestry empyrean" (Letter 19th of February 1818). Keats is a modern poet, and he found inspiration in the thoroughly modern setting of Hampstead Heath. One of the "few points to tip with the fine Webb of his Soul" was the Heath, which he used to spin out poetry that went far beyond it.
Hampstead Heath featured in the 1976 film The Omen. It now has a regular programme of events,which include jazz concerts, fun fairs, children's summer entertainments, and nature spotting walks.
Contact: For information on events held at Hampstead Heath:
telephone: 020 7332 3773
Parkland near Kenwood House
Kenwood House can also be seen on Hampstead Heath. The house was originally built between 1764 and 1769 by Robert Adam for Lord Mansfield. The gardens at Kenwood were landscaped in the English park style under the direction of Humphrey Repton. Repton's landscape, which was planned to look natural, adds another twist to the story that Hampstead Heath has to tell about man and nature. The grounds of Kenwood House are an artfully created "natural" landscape.
The brewing magnate Edward Cecil Guinness bought Kenwood House in 1925. On his death in 1927 he left part of his extensive collection of paintings to the nation, and they are now on display at Kenwood House. The collection includes paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner, Reynolds and Gainsborough.
Kenwood House was used as a location during the filming of Notting Hill and Mansfield Park.
Entry to the house and gardens is free.
Opening Times: Kenwood House will be closed from 1st April 2012 for refurbishments. It is thought this will take about eighteen months. Please use contact details below for more information. Kenwood House is closed 24th -26th December and 1st January.
Address: Kenwood House, Hampstead Heath, London NW3 7JR
Directions: The nearest tube stations for Kenwood House and Hampstead Heath are at Hampstead and Highgate. There are car parks near Gospel Oak station, on East Heath Road near the junction with Downshire Hill, and on North End Way near the junction with Spaniards Road. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on Hampstead Heath.
Access: Ground floor to the house is accessible to wheelchair users. Grounds have loose gravel paths. Some of the slopes can be steep.
Contact: For Kenwood House
telephone: 020 8348 1286