The seasonal shift is in full swing here on Hampstead Heath, and we’ve seen some very soggy weather, alongside glorious brief spells of Autumnal sunshine.

Here at Heath Hands, Autumn is a busy period. As our green spaces are quieter, staff and volunteers, alongside staff from the City of London and English Heritage, can get stuck into conservation tasks on the Heath and at Highgate Wood and getting our parks and gardens ready for Winter at Kenwood, the Hill Garden, Golders Hill Park and Keats House.

Despite the colder and sometimes unsettled weather, Autumn, with its ever-changing colours, is a beautiful time to explore the Heath and enjoy time in nature.

At the start of the month, we enjoyed hosting the annual fun-filled Hampstead Heath Conker Championships, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year! Over 120 people joined in the contest with lots of spectators braving the drizzle to cheer them on. Thanks to our conker leister Paul for being master of ceremonies again and to Adam Ramjean for sending some of the photos below.

Since the start of October, we’ve been busy planning the rest of our Autumnal programme, so why not wrap up warm and join us on one of our upcoming nature activities, which include forest bathing (or nature mindfulness), nature journaling with a local artist, nature walks and more. And with half-term on the horizon, we have a family drop-in gardening session, Halloween nature activities and two spooky bat walks (fancy dress welcome!)!

As well as being a good way of keeping the family entertained, contact with nature and time spent outdoors, especially as the days shorten, has great health and wellbeing benefits.

In addition to our weekly health walks (on Mondays and Thursdays), we’ve recently launched two new wellbeing initiatives on the Heath: a monthly women-only walk on the first Wednesday of the month at 9.30 (next walk – 6th November), and a targeted programme of weekly nature mindfulness walks for parents or carers with children who have health or wellbeing issues. These will be led by a trained nature mindfulness practitioner and aim to support parents and carers during this time and therefore indirectly support the young people’s wellbeing and recovery.

Tea after a forest bathing walk on Hampstead Heath

All our health and wellbeing programmes are free, however we do ask for a small donation to cover some of our activities where they involve equipment (e.g. bat walks and nature journaling). We can also organise bespoke events for community groups - just get in touch for more information.

if you want to keep up-to-date with all our activities do consider joining us as a Friend of Heath Hands. Our Friends membership gives free access to all our activities, as well as a monthly newsletter with updates on our work and upcoming events.

Autumn Activities on the Heath

Conservation in action