Best autumn walks in London: A nature lover’s selection

Autumn is the best time of year for morning and evening walks. The later sunrise and earlier sunset create more accessible windows of time to appreciate the golden hours that follow dawn and precede dusk. The cooler temperatures are behind the sky’s intense colour palette, and the shorter day length initiates the turning colours and subsequent falling of the leaves.

The window to witness autumn’s colours is as brief as spring’s cherry blossoming, so experience the best of autumn in London with this selection of six walks.

Brompton Cemetery

It’s October, get yourself to a cemetery and not just any cemetery, but one of London’s Magnificent Seven – Victorian-era cemeteries that have blossomed into green spaces for walkers, runners and dog walkers.

The Brompton Cemetery is in the heart of West London and yet a world away from it. The architecture on par with Highgate and the Royal Parks (who manage the cemetery) has allowed nature to reclaim it so that it’s picturesque without being sterile and manicured. As a result of this flourishing nature, the trees in the cemetery are turning yellow and gold as autumn sets in, and the vivid colours amongst the ornate headstones offer interesting subjects for photographers and pleasing sights to the eyes.

Brompton Cemetery is not as filled with tourists as some of the better-known London parks and green spaces, offering a place to stroll and appreciate the turning of the seasons without the presence of influencers trying to commodify their attendance at what should be a sacred – or at the very least – a refuge from city life.

Greenwich Park

With the presence of the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum, and its status as a Royal Park, Greenwich Park is well-known and popular but one I feel like Londoners not based in the southeast make the time for. With views of the London skyline that mirror those of Primrose Hill or Hampstead Heath, it’s worth travelling to if you’ve never been or haven’t been in a while.

One Tree Hill is the draw for many an artist and photographer but I prefer strolling through the park (and adjoining Blackheath) to observe the golds and oranges of the turning leaves.

Greenwich Park has everything – architecture, trees, flowerbeds, the remains of a Roman temple and the mounds of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. When the sun sets on an autumn day, the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf and, further to the west, the City stand bathed in intense autumnal colours.

Epping Forest

Epping Forest seems the most obvious choice for an autumnal walk in London (or near London) but despite access to the forest via Central Line, Overground, bus and car, many Londoners don’t take advantage of the forest on their doorstep.

Forest this is – you could spend an entire day walking around but there are many trails you can walk to keep it manageable. If you want to see the full fiery display of autumn reds, greens, oranges and golds, it’s in Epping Forest. Specifically, the beech trees turn an intense gold and burgundy that is bested only by maple varieties.

The Golden Hill Trail and the Beech Trail are two of the shortest, clocking in at 1.5 and 2.5 miles, respectively – I highly recommend the Beech Trail. To make more of a day out, I recommend the six-mile Oak Trail, but any walk through Epping offers views of grand old trees and the intensity of autumn foliage. It’s also a great escape from the city that’s relatively easy to access.

Hampstead Heath

With open heath and wooded trails, it never ceases to amaze me that Hampstead Heath is in the middle of London. From Parliament Hill, there are outstanding views of the London skyline, from the BT Tower to the City and Canary Wharf, and this perfect picture is framed by treetops.

Living in North London, I stroll through Hampstead Heath regularly and watch the seasons change through the year. As a nature lover having to live in a city, the heath is my escape, and admiring its variety of trees is best experienced in spring and autumn.

Being such a well-known London landmark, the heath is always busy at weekends so if you can, make a trip for early morning or early evening midweek. If you want the photo, sure, visit Parliament Hill, but if you want to immerse yourself in autumnal colours, follow a path and walk among the trees – simply pick a path with no destination in particular.

Richmond Park

Richmond Park is vast strolling through any part of it is always worthwhile. For the sake of admiring autumn colour palettes with a destination that doesn’t require you to walk the 7-mile Tamsin Trail around the park, I recommend picking a trail such as 1.5 mile Beverley Brook Walk (part of the Putney to Wimbledon Walk).

Richmond Park has it all – deer, open land, a variety of trees from oak and beech to field maple, and autumn is also good for mushroom spotting and seeing golden meadow grasses and ferns.

Like Hampstead Heath, Richmond Park always has a steady flow of visitors but it’s spacious enough you should have enough breathing space during a morning or evening trip to catch the burnt colours of autumn.

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