Trent Park

Trent Park
Location: Cockfosters, Enfield, EN4 0PS, North London
Walking Time: up to 2 Hours
Facilities: Free Parking, Cafe, Public Toilets
Opening Hours: Daylight Hours (these change throughout the year), 7 Days a Week 

Frankie watching the ducks at Trent Park (September 2011)

Trent Park covers over 400 acres in total.  I love taking Frankie here for a longer walk or jog.  There is a huge amount to keep her busy and to keep me interested.  There is a great deal of woodland for us to cover, Frankie loves to sniff out the birds and squirrels.  There are also a lot of open fields which is great for Frankie to have an off-lead run.  There's a large lake with ducks but this is deep and does freeze over so I prefer to make sure Frankie is on the lead around that area in the winter so she doesn't go charging in.


The park can get busy in the summer and is a great location to take friends, family and dogs for a picnic.  There is also a nice cafe that has recently been refurbished which is a great place to stop for refreshments.  However this does mean that it isn't ideal for off-lead walking if your dog likes to say hello to every human they come across, charge into the middle of picnics, or chew leftovers that people discard on the floor after they finish their picnic.  My favourite time of year to visit is Spring or Autumn when it's damper and not as busy.  


The majority of the park doesn't have a set concrete path so make sure you wear your wellies if it's been raining!  Personally, that's my favourite type of park, I love just walking and walking without knowing where I'm going or following a path.  Trent Park has so much ground to cover that every time I've been there I've found a new area to explore, which is ideal for Frankie as she loves to have new smells to sniff out.  We always have a good jog at Trent Park and I love to stop part way and just soak up the views, it's a beautiful place where you can feel so far removed from the city.

Directions

You can reach Trent Park on the tube, Cockfosters tube station on the Piccadilly Line is a short walk away. There is also a free car park, the entrance is clearly marked off Cockfosters Road.

Brook Farm Open Space

Brook Farm Open Space
Location: Whetstone, N20, North London
Walking time: 45minutes
Facilities: Free parking
Opening Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Frankie in the woods at Brook Farm (December 2010)

Brook Farm is one of my favourite places to walk with Frankie.  It is FULL of dog walkers!  It's great for socialising a puppy and for socialising the owners!  It's very clean the majority of the time so not much rubbish left around for greedy little pups to pick up - Frankie loves nothing more than eating rubbish from the floor, be it chicken left overs, an old takeaway chilli con carne  or even empty water bottles!

Brook Farm is quite closed off from the roads, there is a long drive down to the car park from Whetstone High Road and if you walk in from the entrance nearest Totteridge and Whetstone station you only have to walk for 5 minutes before you are quite far from the road.  This means it is excellent for off lead recall training.  It's also great if you have a dog that likes off lead walking but does have a tendency to run off after birds or squirrels.  


There is a set path if you like to know where you're going but there are also routes that are off-path for the dogs to run in the mud and long grass and in the woods on the top of the hill.  There's a shallow and gentle brook that runs through the middle of the park, which is where it gets its name from.  Frankie loves to have a paddle to cool off in the summer, as do most of the dogs that walk there.  It also forms part of the Dollis Valley Greenwalk which is 11miles long and takes you from Mill Hill to the edge of Hampstead Heath, so is good for a longer walk.


The park does run alongside the tube line but this is extremely well fenced off and you barely notice that it is there.  I find Brook Farm extremely peaceful and in the early morning or late afternoon, I love to take a jog with Frankie along the top of the hill and watch the sun set across the tree tops.  

Sunset at Brook Farm

Beware, every Sunday morning during the football season (between 10am and 1pm) there are football matches so keep an eye out if your dog likes chasing balls and you have him/her off lead!

Directions

You can enter Brook Farm from a variety of points.  If you are travelling by bus or tube then get off at Totteridge and Whetstone station and you will see an entrance to the park only a few minutes walk down the road, on the same side of the road as the station.

If you are driving then there is a car park which is free of charge and will nearly always have spaces (except for when there are football matches).  The entrance to the car park is via a long winding road off the Whetstone High Road, the turning is marked by a yellow sign but it isn't that noticeable so keep an eye out!  

Introductions

Nearly 3 years ago, late one snowy February evening, a wonderful bundle of happiness entered my life.  No, not my child, but my happy excitable 8 week old working cocker spaniel puppy, Frankie.  

My partner and I realised very quickly that she was not going to be a calm and cuddly puppy, she was full of energy from day one.  We were told beforehand that we should expect a puppy of that age to play for short periods of time and then sleep for the rest.  This couldn't have been further from the case with our Frankie.  She was mad!  She didn't stop, she ran and played and jumped and ran some more.  We realised quickly that she needed to be entertained, she needed new experiences.  So we set about exploring all parts of London for walking routes that kept her busy and interested.  But it did more than that, it kept me interested!  I realised there is so much more to London than I ever knew, areas that I wouldn't have even discovered if it had not been for Frankie.  It's not always easy in London to find the best dog-friendly places but there is so much that we have explored together over the last 3 years that I thought I would share a few of my favourites.