Chiswick and Circular walk 8 miles or 9/9.5 m with extension

Bedford Park east of The Avenue - Ravenscourt Park - Riverside Studios. - Thames Path to St Nicholas Church and Old Cemetery - Grounds - (optional extension: Triangle and Acton Green)

Route: suburban streets with architectural and historic interest, parks with lakes, flowerbeds and trees, Thames riverside. An internet search provides more history about the Bedford Park Estate, Ravenscourt Park, on and other historic sites passed.

Local amenities: cafes and toilets in Ravenscourt Park, Riverside Studios and Chiswick House grounds

Points of interest: Bedford Park (listed Norman Shaw architecture); Ravenscourt Park (landscaped 33 acres with lake, formal gardens, avenues of trees, play areas etc); Riverside Studios: 21st century redevelopment riverside cafe on NE side of Hammersmith Bridge; Georgian houses on Hammersmith Terrace, 16th - 18th century houses along Chiswick Mall, Hogarth’s tomb in St Nicholas Church cemetery; Chiswick House - Palladian mansion in 64 acres of grounds, including wilderness areas, lake, formal gardens and listed camellia conservatory; Gunnersbury Triangle wildlife reserve.

Transport: Underground Station (District Line toward Richmond or Ealing Broadway); 94 and 272 buses stop on Bath Road outside or opposite St Michael and All Angels Church; E3 bus stops in Turnham Green Terrace near station - all bus stops are named Turnham Green Station.

Meeting Place for groups: on the green space with a memorial bench beside St Michael and All Angels Church. To reach the Church turn right on leaving the station and cross at the next corner. As you enter the path leading between the green and the side of the church there is a display panel providing historic information about Bedford Park and its residents

Walk route

Walk to the front of the Church on Bath Road to observe the entrance tiles of the Tabard Inn opposite - they are by William de Morgan. The buildings with bay windows on either side of the pub were originally the Bedford Park Stores which, with the Church and the pub, were designed By Norman Shaw.

Continue east on Bath Road then almost immediately turn left into Priory Gardens. (The Victorian Society’s HQ is on RH corner opposite at 1 Priory Gardens).

On the next corner the large house opposite, The Priory, is now The Chiswick and Bedford Park Preparatory School.

Turn left and walk behind the Church then go right into Woodstock Road. No 8 on RH side was the first Bedford Park house where Irish poet and writer W B Yeats lived from 1887-1888 when the surrounding area was still largely a building site. On the next corner (with Rupert Road) note two spectacular detached houses with tile hanging, bracketed bays and arched/motifs plus behind Number 20 an attractive studio and behind no 22 a detached room added in late 1970s or early 1980s in matching style.

Continue to no 44 Woodstock Road - set back to save a mature oak tree at time of building - subsequently altered with rough cast rendering and modern windows before Bedford Park was listed so not in keeping with overall style of the area. Houses beyond this to the corner with Blenheim Road are all designs by EJ May with Shaw’s influence. Turn left into Blenheim Road (the original northern limit of the Bedford Park estate). On the RH side, no 3 was the home from 1888-1902 of John Butler Yeats and his family, including his son, W B Yeats (his second Bedford Park home). Return and cross Woodstock Road and continue on Blenheim Road. At the next corner on RH side notice the studio in the back garden of the last house which is No 47 Priory Avenue. It was occupied in early 1900s by Cecil Aldin, an artist who portrayed animals and coach houses and whose name is on the memorial bench near the Church.

Turn right and continue down Priory Avenue then go left into Rupert Road (note no 14A at the back of a house on Priory Avenue; it was the studio of another artist, E Blair Leighton).

Cross junction with Fairfax Road and veering slightly left continue along Addison Grove

Turn right into Abinger Road. (Note the last house on right which has an elegant curved greenhouse, a later addition with matching upper floor windows)

Turn left into Bath Road to continue east. Just past the junction with Gainsborough Road opposite, look across at No 62 Bath Road: the French artist lived there from 1897 till 1902 and his father Camille Pissarro painted a view from an upper window when staying with him.

Cross at the traffic lights to Stamford Book Reserve and walk through or around it.

Continue east to Goldhawk Road; cross by the Duchess pub and go straight ahead then turn right into Ravenscourt Gardens then left to walk beside tennis courts and enter Ravenscourt Park.

Go left past a dog walking enclosure then cross a bridge at the top end of lake and walk down the east side. (The lake is the remaining side of a medieval moat, the other sides having been filled in by a 19th century owner of a house on the same site as the medieval moated manor house.)

Turn left at the end of the lake then almost immediately (on the left) there is a memorial stone, headed Solidarnosc - an item of recent historic interest.

Continue to the grassy area beside the toilets and cafe. Notice the mound from the bridge and along this side of the lake, site of the ancient cellars of the original manor house, into which rubble was piled after the last house was destroyed by bombing in 1941).

There is a display board giving some of the history of Ravenscourt Park at the south-west entrance to the park (on the corner of King Street and Ravenscourt Park).

Go south down the main avenue to the railway arches. (Diversion to view the history panel: go under the arches and take the path diagonally right toward the entrance. Return back under the arches to the point you left in order to avoid the traffic noise of King Street.)

Turn left along the narrow path beside the railway tracks above on the right. Leave the park and cross to Ravenscourt Park Station then go left into Ravenscourt Place and through a narrow alley to Dalling Road.

Turn right along Dalling Road to King Street. Cross King Street at the pedestrian crossing slightly to the left and go down Nigel Playfair Avenue. The red brick Town Hall building facing the Great West Road (A4) behind the newer Town Hall building, currently being re-built, has a stone stairway with a relief of Old Father Thames on either side. This marks where Hammersmith Creek flows below ground from the underground Stamford Brook to join the Thames in Furnival Gardens. Cross the A4 under the subway, turn left at the end then right into Furnival Gardens. Head left over the grass and go behind the riverside buildings then along two short stretches of road to Hammersmith Bridge Road. Cross and turn right down to Riverside Studios. This is an excellent place to stop, providing a river view, cafe, bar and toilet facilities.

It is not possible to walk on the tow path under Hammersmith Bridge until it is repaired so return up Hammersmith Bridge Road, cross at the first possible point then go down to the river. Continue to the west by the side of the river. Go through the narrow path by The Dove pub then walk along the river via Upper Mall, Hammersmith Mall, Hammersmith Terrace and Chiswick Mall to reach St Nicholas Church. Places of interest include Kelmscott House and the William Morris centre just past the Dove pub, Emlyn Walker’s house (Hammersmith Terrace), and along Chiswick Mall pass , Fullers Brewery and Walpole House, supposedly the building on which Thackeray based Miss Pinkerton’s Academy, the school attended by Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair.

On reaching St Nicholas Church go up steps to Hogarth’s tomb by the side of Church, follow the path between the church and the cemetery to turn left into Chiswick Old Cemetery. Walk through it to the exit on the far side. Turn right up Corney Road to Burlington Lane. Cross at the traffic lights on the right and go left into the entrance to Chiswick House grounds. Take the path to the left to the next gate then turn right on the path to the House (18th century Palladian style) built as a summer party house. The cafe and toilets are to its right. There are plenty of benches for picnics in nearby grassy areas.

There are maps in the grounds to help find your way.

A possible route around the grounds could include the grassy slope by the lake behind the House; then take a gate on the left, turn right over the bridge by the cascade and go right beside the lake as far as an opening about half way along on the left. Go under an evergreen oak tree with wide spreading branches (set well back from the lakeside path) then through a gap in a hedge to reach the Cricket Pitch. Cross to the pavilion and take a path to the right, through woods and beside a rustic fence round a small wildflower patch, back toward the lake and over the arched stone bridge ahead. Follow the lake to the right to the point where several paths meet at rear end of the lawn neatly planted with trees at the back of the House. Go along the path ahead and go to the left side of a small stone building (on its right is a ha-ha, which is the boundary on one side of the lawn). Go to the right until you reach the side of the Camellia Conservatory with a formal Italian garden in front of it. Cross in front of the conservatory, then through a gate out of the formal garden and go left up an avenue of lime trees (Dukes Avenue). Leave the Park by the gate ahead (or go right on a path beside North Lodge to a small gate leading directly to the subway under the main road).

Cross under subway and take the left fork to go along to Dukes Avenue. On the left side turn left along Wavendon Road to Sutton Court Road. Turn right and go to Heathfield Terrace near Chiswick Town Hall. Go to the right then cross the road and walk along the left pavement of the road which divides the Green. Opposite the entrance to the church go left across Turnham Green to traffic lights at the corner of Chiswick High Road and Acton Lane. Cross and go up Acton Lane on the LH side then turn left into Bollo Lane (opposite is Chiswick Park Station).

Optional extension: Gunnersbury Triangle wild life and nature reserve. The entrance is just past the pedestrian crossing to the station. The route round Gunnersbury Triangle, generally turning left in a large loop, is about 3/4 mile. On leaving take the pedestrian crossing on right to Chiswick Park station. The walk can end here.

Further extension: Acton Green, 1/2 mile. Cross Acton Lane and go under the railway bridge then right into Hardwicke Avenue. Proceed to the entrance to Acton Green, continue ahead on paths close to the railway line, cross Fisher’s Lane to the other part of Acton Green and continue till it meets Turnham Green Terrace and on the right Turnham Green station. Possible drop-out points

Hammersmith Station by following Hammersmith Bridge Road to the Broadway. Ravenscourt Park Station by returning under the subway from Furnival Gardens near the Dove Stamford Brook Station by taking the subway at Black Lion Lane and then going left at King Street and right at Goldhawk Road Under subways to buses along King Street and Chiswick High Road eg 391, H91, 267. From Chiswick House Chertsey Road Gate to E3 and 190 bus stops