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!