London calling.
London Walks connecting.
This… is London.
This is London Walks.
Streets ahead. Story time. History time.
And here we go again. Another bonus ‘cast. Makes four in a row.
And this one breaks step a little bit. It’s counter point to the point. To the tune we’ve been playing so far with these lagniappes.
Lagniappes. That wonderful New Orleans word for a little something extra thrown in.
But that’s enough Hugh Grant, nervously fidgeting around, not able to come right out with it.
Time to come right out with it.
You think you’ve left London behind.
Fields. Fences. Proper countryside. A bit of birdsong for good measure.
And then – just up ahead – something shifts.
A long drive. A sweep of lawn. A house set back just enough to make a point.
This is still London. And this stretch of the Ultimate London Walk lets you see something most people miss completely.
Yes, there are farms and pastures and woods on this second leg.
But threaded through all that green… are some very special houses.
And we don’t just pass them.
We read them.
First up: Totteridge House.
This is London doing country-house grandeur. Big plot, deep history, and the sort of presence that tells you immediately – this is serious property. You see the setting, the scale, the ambition of it. And once you know what you’re looking at, you realise you’re looking at one of those quietly immense London fortunes made visible.
Then: The Pound House.
A marvellous name – all mud and livestock on the face of it. But what you’re actually seeing is something very different: a house that’s been reimagined, rebuilt, brought bang up to date. Clean lines, modern confidence, and a price tag that would make most postcodes wince. Old name, new money – and a very London story.
And then: Garde Hill House.
Up on the ridge, commanding its ground. This is Totteridge at its most exclusive – a place that has long drawn people who want space, privacy, and just enough distance from the centre without ever really leaving it. You see the position, the sweep, the quiet authority of it.
And that’s the trick of this walk.
You’re not just trudging through countryside that happens to be in London.
You’re seeing layers.
Agricultural London. Village London. And then – just there, in plain sight once you know – high-value, high-privacy London.
Most people would walk this stretch and see a hedge.
You see what’s behind it.
And on that note,
In the immortal words of Huckleberry Finn it’s time to light out for the territories. Put your eyes and feet where your ears have been. Take the plunge, head up to Hadley Wood Station on Saturday morning and join Charlie and his cadre. They’ll be lighting out for the territories, starting The Great London Walk. Some of them will just dip their big toe in, content to see a few bits of London they never would have imagined. Others – come the end of the summer – will have walked all the way across London. They really will have lit out for – and lit up the territories. See you tomorrow.