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Home , Brentford, Chiswick, Gunnersbury, Gunnersbury Park, Turnham Green, West London

Acton and Circular Trail (ACCT) – 6.5 miles

Acton Town Station – Park – Strand on the Green – – Chiswick business park - Wildlife Reserve – Chiswick Park Station – Acton Green Common – Chiswick Common – Station – Bedford Park garden suburb - Acton Park – Churchfield Road – Crown Street - Road – Acton Town Station

Route: Easy – mostly surfaced paths through parks and commons and quiet roads with short sections of main roads.

Local Amenities: cafes, , shops at several places. Toilets available at and in some cafes/pubs and an Acton supermarket on route. Bike racks by Acton Town station and shops.

Points of Interest: Gunnersbury Park – historic house, museum and park; the new Football Stadium; Strand on the Green on the Thames with historic houses; the landscaped Chiswick Business Park; Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Gunnersbury; the garden suburb of Bedford Park; and Acton Park.

Transport: Acton Town Station ( and District) and local buses. Join or drop out at Bridge rail station or Gunnersbury, Chiswick Park or Turnham Green tube stations.

Starting at Acton Town Station. Turn left out of the station and walk past cafes and shops to cross the busy (A406) at lights. Continue ahead on Popes Lane to turn left into Gunnersbury Park (1), walk down the drive and turn 2nd right by a children’s playground, the café & toilets.

Before the boating lake, turn left down a path by the side of the house to the . At the Orangery turn left to walk round the far side of the Horseshoe Lake. Turn right near the lake end and shortly right again to reach a metal sculpture with a left path through a small wood. Take this path and at the end of the wood go ahead to join the far perimeter path of Gunnersbury Park. Follow this right, past the Potomac lake, keeping left but ignoring a left turn to a gatehouse, to reach a metal gate into Lionel Road North.

Turn left on Lionel Road North and use pedestrian traffic lights to cross the A4 to Lionel Road South and pass the new Brentford Football Ground. Turn right at Chiswick High Road and just past Station, cross left at lights to Strand on the Green Road. A little way along this road, turn right on to the Thames Path.

Follow the Thames Path eastwards (left) past historic houses and a (2). Look out for a Blue Plaque to the 18th century society painter Johann Zoffany on No. 65. Reach an alley on the left, near a tree on the bank. This is Ship Alley with the former Ship pub (the oldest building on Strand on the Green) on the far side. Turn left up the alley to reach Thames Road. Cross using a nearby pedestrian crossing and go ahead up Brook Lane past a school to a footbridge over a railway.

Cross the railway on the bridge and go right into the art deco estate of Chiswick Village, keep left through the village and near the northern end take a footpath on the right that runs alongside the railway and emerges on Wellesley Road. On the footpath glimpse right across the railway to the blue onion dome of a Russian Orthodox church. At Wellesley Road, turn right and use a pedestrian crossing to turn left to a footpath into Gunnersbury Station going through the station to the other side, emerging on Chiswick High Road. Cross the road at pedestrian lights and turn right and then left into Chiswick Business Park (3).

Walk through the landscaped gardens of the Business Park, keeping to the right hand side of the lake, and at the top reach a metal pedestrian bridge just to the right. Walk across the bridge and forward past flats and right on to Bollo Lane towards Chiswick Park tube station. Just before the station is the entrance on the right to the ’s Gunnersbury Triangle Wildlife Reserve which is usually open (4). A detour to walk a circuit of the reserve is recommended and included in the mileage for this walk. See the map inside reserve.

After reaching or visiting the reserve, turn right on Bollo Lane and cross at the pedestrian crossing to reach Chiswick Park tube station. Go past the station and shortly cross to the right side of Acton Lane by a pedestrian crossing. Walk under the railway bridge and turn right into Hardwicke Road to walk past cottages. At the end, enter Acton Green Common and keep ahead with the rail embankment on your right to cross the common and a road. Walk in the same direction through Chiswick Common coming out on Turnham Green Terrace, opposite Bath Road with the tube station and Tabard Pub to the right and St Michael and All Angels Church to the left. Arts and Craft designed, both Pub and Church are well worth a visit if open.

Turn left on exiting Chiswick Common and head to a roundabout, crossing using the nearby pedestrian crossing to a small parade of shops and cafes. Keep ahead towards Acton on The Avenue, walking through the area known as Bedford Park (5). Just past a bend, turn left into Brookfield Road and follow this round to come out on Southfield Road, opposite Southfields Playing Fields. Cross and enter the Playing Fields and take one of the paths going left through or in front of a small woodland to reach the central paved path. Turn right and at the far end of the path walk down between flats and an industrial vehicle park to reach Mansell Road. Walk ahead to The Vale, using a pedestrian crossing to cross and enter Acton Park.

If you are feeling tired here, just go straight ahead through the park but for a more scenic route, including views of the Goldsmiths Almshouses, turn right and follow the perimeter paths round the park. Leave the park at the north west entrance by the station and turn left, going over the level crossing and walking along Churchfield Road past shops, pubs and cafes. At the end cross the road by the pedestrian crossing to a paved area between St Mary’s Church (an interesting Victorian church) and Morrisons Supermarket (toilets). Go ahead, through market stalls on some days of the week, to cross Acton High Street at pedestrian/cycle lights beside the Kings Head Hotel to walk down Crown Street. At crossroads, turn right into Mill Hill Road and walk to the end, turn left on to Gunnersbury Lane to walk to Acton Town Station.

Places of interest:

1. Gunnersbury Park: built on land formerly owned by the Bishops of London, was created in the 18th century and developed in the 19th century. Among former owners, Princess Amelia, favourite daughter of George II, purchased Gunnersbury Park in 1761, improved the estate, and used it as her summer residence until her death in 1786. The restored battlemented, Gothic style building at the far end of the terrace is known as Princess Amelia's Bath House. By the 19th century, the original house had been demolished and the estate was divided. Two houses were built which can be seen today. Known as the Large Mansion and The Small Mansion these were in separate ownership until the , who purchased part of the estate in 1835, reunited the whole site in 1889. After the death of in 1917 the estate was broken up, the then boroughs of Acton and and County Council acquiring 75 hectares in 1925 to provide a public park. Today there is a local history museum in the Large Mansion, a new café and toilets, a boating lake, Horseshoe lake, landscaped grounds, playing fields and a sports centre.

2. Strand on the Green: a fishermens’ settlement in the Middle Ages, after that riverside trade took over, served by hostelries (3 pubs remain). Members of the gentry settled here from Tudor times and it was popular in Hanoverian times due to the Royal palace at nearby Kew. Trade and nobility lived cheek by jowl, surrounded by a rural hinterland. In the 19th century it became less popular with the nobility as the royals moved from Kew. Riverside trade also declined as canals and railways took over and businesses moved to nearby Brentford. By 1900s it had become almost a slum but its system of copyhold land tenure stopped it falling prey to developers, In the 20th century it became popular again as the old buildings were appreciated, restored and listed (39 in the area are listed).

3. Chiswick Business Park: The London General Omnibus Company built its maintenance and engi- neering works opposite Gunnersbury station in 1921 and the facility employed 3,500 staff at its peak. Maintenance work transferred to Elstree in 1956 and London Transport closed its engineering operation here in 1988, leaving the 30-acre site for redevelopment. Designed in the late 1990s by the Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (formerly Richard Rogers Partnership) the present modern blocks surround a landscaped garden. Tenants include media and high tech companies. At the northern end, a pedestrian bridge links the park to Chiswick Park station. Opened in January 2019, the 220 tonne bridge is formed of three steel arches in earthy tones and a hardwood timber deck.

4. Gunnersbury Triangle Wildlife Reserve: Abandoned allotments on railway land which had grown into woodland were at risk of development in 1981. But a campaign led by local people, supported by London Wildlife Trust and the (former) Council, ensured the area between the railway tracks was protected at a landmark planning inquiry in 1983. The land was given to Council, and the Trust invited to manage it as a nature reserve. After work to make it more accessible for visitors, the site opened to the public in 1985.

5. Bedford Park garden suburb: Considered an inspiration for later garden cities and suburbs, Bedford Park was the creation of Jonathan Carr (1845-1915), a cloth merchant with liberal leanings, family connections in the world of art and a taste for property speculation, which was not always successful. Inspired by the Arts and Craft movement of the 1870s, Carr created a suburb for the artistically inclined middle classes. Many of the original buildings remain or have been restored. The Tabard pub near Turnham Green Tube Station was built in 1880 by the architect Norman Shaw as part of Carr's development of Bedford Park. Notable features, along with its original street facade, include arts and craft tiling by William de Morgan and Walter Crane.