GOLDERS HILL PARK Golder's Hill Park joins the western end of Hampstead Heath, but its park-like appearance and house and garden are quite a contrast to the wilder scenery of the Heath, although Golder's Hill seems more in the country than Hampstead, as the houses near are so well hidden from it. The mansion has a modern exterior, although parts of it are very old, and the fine trees in the grounds show that it has been a pleasant residence for some hundreds of years. The estate of 36 acres was bought in 1898 from the executors of Sir Spencer Wells, the money in the first instance being advanced by three public-spirited gentlemen, anxious to save the charming spot from the hands of the builder. The view from the terrace of the house, which now serves as a refreshment room, is very pretty, with a gently sloping lawn in front, park-like meadows, and fine trees beyond the dividing sunk fence, and distant peeps of the country towards Harrow. The approach from the Finchley Road is by an avenue of chestnuts, and a flat paddock on one side is a hockey and cricket-ground for ladies. There are some really fine oaks, good beeches, ash, sycamore, Spanish chestnuts, and Scotch firs; but the most remarkable tree is a very fine tulip, which flowers profusely nearly every year. At the bottom of the Park an undisturbed pond, with reedy margin, is much frequented by moor-hens. The valley above is railed off for some red deer, peacocks, and an emu, while three storks are to be seen prancing about under the oak trees in the open Park. The most attractive corner is the kitchen-garden, which, like the one in Brockwell, has been turned into an extremely pretty flower-garden. On one side is a range of hothouses, where plants are produced for bedding out, and a good supply of fruit is raised and sold to the refreshment-room contractor on the spot. Two sides have old red walls covered with pear trees, which produce but little fruit, and the fourth has a good holly hedge. The vines from one of the vineries have been planted out, and they cover a large rustic shelter, and have picturesque though not edible bunches of grapes every year. The way the planting of roses, herbaceous and rock plants, and spring bulbs is arranged is very good; but the same misleadingly-worded notice with regard to the plants of Shakespeare is placed here as in the Brockwell "old English garden." There is a nice old quince and other fruit-tree standards in this really charming garden. In another part of the grounds there is an orchard, not "improved" in any way, but left as it might be in Herefordshire, with grass and wild flowers under the trees, which bear bushels of ruddy apples every year.
Part of the Park is actually outside London, but it is all kept up by the London County Council. The parish boundary of Hampstead and Hendon, which is also the limit of the County of London, is seen in the middle among the oak trees.
