London's wild back garden. Eight hundred acres of woods and meadow, a protected skyline view from Parliament Hill, swimming ponds and a free stately home in the trees.
The lowdown
Most London parks are manicured. The Heath is not. It is eight hundred acres of genuine wild, woods, ponds, meadow and hedgerow, that feel less like a park and more like a slab of countryside that London grew around. You can properly get lost in it, which is the whole appeal.
Climb Parliament Hill at the south end for the payoff. The view across the entire city is protected by law, so the Shard, the City cluster and St Paul's lay themselves out in front of you and nobody can ever build it away. It is a free rival to any paid viewing platform in town and a local favourite for sunset.
The swimming ponds are the other legend. Three of them, men's, women's and mixed, open year round to proper cold-water swimmers for a small honesty-box fee. And tucked in the trees at the north edge is Kenwood House, a free stately home with Rembrandts and a Vermeer on the walls and not a penny to get in.
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