Mill Hill Preservation Society
...making change worthwhile

Mill Hill Footpath Walks - please refer to our NEW footpath map

Circular Walk Through Totteridge Valley – 5 Miles

(Stout boots are recommended)

Start at the Three Hammers pub at the corner of Hammers Lane and the Ridgeway – point (A) on the map. Walk along The Ridgeway, passing the Mill Field on your left and down the steep footpath to Lawrence Street. Turn right here past the The Old Forge and cross Highwood Hill (taking great care) to the double metal kissing-gate into the field. This filed used to be known as Sellers Field and has now been divided into two by new planting to your left within a double fence. Walk by the fence through another metal gate and up the hill where you leave the field and enter a spinney. Passing through another gate and over a stile you co9me to the junction of Totteridge Common and Hendon Wood Lane – point (B) on the map. Traffic lights will help you cross the very busy road to a metal gate that leads into Totteridge Fields Nature Reserve. A clearly-marked path takes you diagonally across the fields, over a wooden bridge and into the corner of a playing field. You are now on the Dollis Valley Green Walk. Go across the corner of the playing field towards the way-mark sign, over a wooden bridge and turn left. You now have a spinney to your left and open fields to your right. Continue on until you come to the Dollis Brook, where you ignore a signpost to the left over the brook, which would take you to May’s Lane. Keep going round the edge of the field until you come to a gap in the hedge, where you turn left and go through a metal gate. Go on through several fields with the brook on your left all the time. This is a very peaceful part of the Totteridge Valley, and you could be forgiven for thinking that you 112 miles from Charing Cross, not just 12.
 
The fields you have walked through have been separated by metal kissing-gates. You now come to a field where there is a six-barred gate beside the metal kissing-gate. Go through this field bearing away to the right away from the brook and the path takes through a gap in the hedge beside an oak tree in another field. A little way past the gap you see a line of telegraph poles across the field. Here you turn right, marked point (C) on the map. You are now on a path way-marked Red and Yellow Circular Walk. Keeping by the telegraph poles all the way, you cross the field and come to a stile, which you cross. A word of caution here; the next 100 yards of the path are always very boggy, except in times of severe drought, so this is where you need your stout boots!
 
The ground now rises and you come up to the lower end of Horseshoe Lane at a wooden stile. Walk up the lane, admiring the magnificent houses either side of you, until you come to Totteridge Common. Turn right here and walk along the footpath for about 400 yards until you come to the Long Pond on the other side of the road. A way-marked sign points you across the road and two house signs (The Warren and The Long Pond) on the other side of the road, give you further identification of where you are. Cross Totteridge Common, taking the greatest care because traffic whizzes both ways regardless of the 30mph speed limit. With the pond on your right you cross a wooden stile and walk down the path with a magnificent panorama of the valley in front of you. At the bottom of the valley you come to the Folly Brook, where you turn right.
 
Walk along the path with the brook on your left until you come to a large house called Folly Farm – point (D) on the map. Turn left here and then almost immediately right through a narrow entrance and you are now walking around the edge of a cricket field. Go into the next field (also a playing field) and cross it diagonally towards the hedge. A gap in the hedge takes you into another playing field with a pavilion at the end and the bulk of the Medical Research Centre building on the skyline. Walk along the hedge until you come to a gap in it on your right. Cross a wooden stile and a track going into a field, which has an identifiable path across it diagonally. You come to a brick wall and a paved area and just on the left is a stile, which you cross and walk up a narrow path with a high fence to your right. This leads you into St Vincent’s Lane with the new apartments on your right. Go up the hill onto The Ridgeway and turn right. This will lead you back to the Three Hammers, where depending on the time of day you can obtain a much-needed drink.
 

Circular Walk Through Moat Mount and Barnet Gate Wood – 31/2 Miles

 
There are very few way-marks on this walk, but it should present no problems, as it is bounded by the A1, Barnet Road and Hendon Wood Lane on three sides. You will probably not be able to go far wrong. Stout boots are recommended, but there are no parts of the walk that are impassable in bad weather.
 
Start at the Rising Sun, which is at the junction of Highwood Hill and Marsh Lane. Some car parking is available on Highwood Hill opposite the pub, and the 251 bus (Edgware to Arnos Grove) stops at this point.
 
Go down Marsh Lane and turn right at the first turning, which is Glenwood Road – point (E) on the map. Go down the road and turn left into Worcester Crescent and take the first turning on the right into Bedford Road. This leads you to the entrance of Moat Mount Open Space.
 
The start of the walk is grubby but it steadily improves. You begin to climb into a well-wooded area on a footpath that leads up to the right. There are then a number of tracks which lead down to the Leg of Mutton Pond on the left. Take the second or third track, but do not go too far or you will end up at a dead-end. At the corner of the pond marked point (F) on the map take the metalled path leading down to the A1. A little way along you will see on the right some steps leading down to the right. (If you do not find them and go too far you end up in the car park and will have to retrace your steps and look for steps, now on your left-hand side.) The steps lead you up a track beside a gulley on the left to a stile, which you cross, and proceed up to a point where three paths converge. Take the one inside the fence with the broad field on the left and go down to where a footpath turns right towards Hendon Wood Lane – point (G) on the map.
 
Take the left-hand track here to into Barnet Gate Wood and the path leads you round the perimeter of the Wood in a circle back to point (G). You re-trace your steps and pass Moat End Farm on your left, which leads you to Nan Clark’s Lane. Turn left into the lane and then right into Highwood Hill, and you are back at the Rising Sun. Take great care at this part of Highwood Hill, as the footpath runs out and you should cross and re-cross the road to be safe.
 

Circular Walk Through Darlands Nature Reserve – approx. 41/2 Miles

 
Start at the Adam & Eve pub on The Ridgeway – point (H) on the map. You can usually park your car opposite in Burtonhole Lane and the 240 bus route runs past the pub. Stout shoes are recommended if the weather has been very wet.
 
Walk down the The Ridgeway and take the first turning to the left into Partingdale Lane. Where the lane takes a sharp turn to the right there is a sign on the left marked ‘Public Bridleway to Burtonhole Lane’. Go down this park to the bottom where the bridleway turns sharp left and you go right through a kissing-gate way-marked ‘Public Footpath to Totteridge – ¾ Mile’. Take this path and after some way you will come to a bridge over a stream, and a stile. Here the way-mark tells you to turn right. Ignore this and keep on up the hill over several stiles until you come to the duck pond at Laurel Farm. Bear left along the path in front of the houses all the way until you come to the back of the Orange Tree pub on Totteridge Lane. Turn immediately left through a gate on the right into a road marked ‘Private Road – The Close’. The metalled road turns to the left but you keep on down the track in front of you, which leads into Darlands lake nature Reserve. In the spring keep a lookout for the very rare snake-head fritillaries on the edges of the path. Keep on through the very beautiful nature reserve until you come to the lake.  Here you can go either way round it, the left-hand path being somewhat longer.
 
Where paths meet on the far side of the lake keep left (if you have taken the left-hand path round the lake\0 or right if you have taken the right-hand path, and walk through the shrubbery until you come to a gap in the fence on your left – point (I) on the map. You are now on the ancient path that leads from Mill Hill to Totteridge. Turn left along the path and soon you will come to a stile, which you cross and enter into a broad field with the Medical Research Centre building prominent on the skyline in front of you. Cross the field and enter the footpath besides Folly Brook (on your left) and keep on until you come to Folly Farm – point (d) on the map. Turn left here and keep on up the metalled track with the cricket field on the right and turn right into Burtonhole Lane at the junction. This will lead you back up the hill to the Adam & Eve pub.
 

Circular Walk Through Mill Hill to Totteridge Common  - 3 Miles

 
Start at the Reddings Green, off Lawrence Street.  This is a cul-de-sac running parallel to Lawrence Street, where there is usually room for car parking.  Go down Lawrence Street towards the Broadway and turn left into the footpath just beyond Uphill Grove which crosses the land owned by St. Joseph's College.   Cross BIrkbeck Road and walk up Milton Road to Hammers Lane which you cross and then walk up the path in Mill Hill School grounds.  The Greek style portico of the main building is on your left and you come out onto Wills Grove. Turn left here, and a little way down turn left again onto The Ridgeway.  Walk along The Ridgeway past the front of Mill Hill School and cross over the road. 
 
Just before St. Paul's school there is an irregular shaped house called The Bungalow.   Between the school and this house is a footpath sign-posted "Public Footpath Totteridge 3/4".   Take this path and walk across the beautiful Totteridge Valley up to Totteridge Common.  Some parts of the path are rutted so take care.  At Totteridge Common turn left and, to avoid crossing and re-crossing the busy main road, keep on the grass to the left of the road and pass a small pond on your left.  Take care here as you will be walking close to the traffic.   You come onto the driveway of a house called "Fairlawn" and as the driveway bends back to re-join the main road, you walk towards a white gate, with a house called "Tower House" to your left. 
 
By the gate there is a signpost saying "Footpath Path Highwood Hill 3/4" .  Take this path, which is well way-marked, across the fields and through a number of metal gates until you come onto Belmont Farm land.  A metal gate in the fence on your right leads you across towards a water trough and on through way-marked and signposted paths until you come to the bottom of Highwood Hill.  Here take great care crossing the road, as you cannot see traffic coming from your right.  Wait until there is no traffic noise and then send one person across the road.  That person will indicate when it is safe for the rest of your party to cross.   Walk down Lawrence Street to The Reddings Green on your right which concludes your walk.