One Tree Hill
a secret hill with the city at its feet
A wooded hilltop in Honor Oak with a free, wide view back across the whole city, where local people once fought off the developers to keep it open.
Free to visit · Honor Oak · Honor Oak Park · SE23 3RA
Opening: Daily, dawn to dusk
One Tree Hill is a small wooded slope in the south-east, and it is one of those places that locals know and almost nobody else does. Climb the path to the top and the trees open out to a free panorama back across central London, the City towers, St Paul's and beyond, all the way to the West End on a clear day.
There is real history under your feet. The oak at the summit is said to mark the spot where Queen Elizabeth I rested on May Day 1602, and in 1897 thousands of people stormed the fences here to stop a golf club enclosing the land, one of the great Victorian fights for public open space.
Today it is a nature reserve, quiet and a bit wild, with a tumbledown Victorian church ruin and benches placed exactly where the view is best. Bring a coffee, find a seat near the top and you have one of the cheapest grandstands in the city.
Getting there: A short uphill walk from Honor Oak Park station on the Overground, off Honor Oak Park road.
Best time to go: A clear evening for the light over the City, though it is quiet and lovely on any dry day.
Insider tip: Carry on past the summit to St Augustine's, the ruined church on the slope, then loop back. The benches just below the trig point catch the late sun and frame the City dead centre.
Free things to do in London · London Free Guide