How many of you have seen those hills off the A40 on your way to London? You know the ones I’m talking about, we used to called them ‘Boob mountain’ because they look like boobs!! Oh god, did I really write that?! Anyway, this place is actually called Northala Fields, and today I will tell you all about what is now a cool place to visit.

Location: Northala Fields, Kensington Rd, Northolt, Middlesex UB5 6AH

Parking: Two FREE car parks – one is off Kensington Rd, the other is off Kensington Road adjacent to the A40 sliproad. To get to them, you have to go round the Target Roundabout at Northolt. Take the road to the A40 towards London but go on the slip road immediately to the left (don’t go on the A40). At the end of the slip road, turn right and you will be on Kensington Road.

Public Transport: Nearest tube station is Northolt, which is a 15 minute walk away.

Food: There is a San Remo cafe with outdoor picnic tables by the children’s play area.

Toilets: Yes, by the cafe

Pushchair-friendly: Yes the paths in the park are pushchair-friendly. One of the hills has a circular path to the top which is suitable for pushchairs. The other 3 hills don’t have paths so you probably couldn’t do those with a pushchair.

Playground: Yes – there are two, an adventure playground for older children, and a separate younger children’s playground.

Map

Northala Fields is great as it’s quite unique – I’ve never seen a park quite like it. There are 4 hills that you can climb to the top of to see amazing views of the surrounding area and London in the far distance. People fly kites from here too. There are 6 fishing ponds, an adventure playground, a younger kids playground, a cafe as well as some log sculptures.

The Hills

As the hills are the main focus point, I will start with them. There are 4 hills and they are made out of the rubble from the old Wembley Stadium. I actually witnessed them being transformed from piles of rubble to landscaped hills. This was in the 2000s on my many travels along the A40. I am still quite amazed at how they turn rubbish into something quite beautiful.

We visited on Monday and parked in the car park by the A40. It is literally next to the hills and they look so huge! This is the view you’ll see as you come out of your car.

Out of the 4 hills, there is one that has an actually circular footpath that goes around it to the top. This is the tallest mound at 26m high. The threat of a thunderstorm didn’t stop us, and we set off up the hill.

It’s a good, pleasant walk and takes about 10 minutes. There are even wildflowers growing along the hill, and I saw some families taking photos in the poppies. At the top the view is just amazing – we could spot Horsenden Hill where we did the Gruffalo Trail last month, and London in the distance.

Tyler wanted to sit here with me for ages. He wants to come back with just me another day, so we can sit and admire the view for as long as we want (ie without Lily rushing us!).

Although she wanted to rush back down the hill, Lily was very happy to have reached the top!

The Fishing Ponds

There are 6 rectangular fishing ponds, and they are really picturesque. We saw people actually fishing, as well as lots of ducks.

The below photo just melts me, especially as I took a similar photo of Tyler at this spot when he was teeny tiny.

This is the photo from 2014 – Tyler was 23 months at the time!

The Playground and Cafe

The main playground is amazing, there is this huge wooden castle structure with climbing ropes and bridges and slides. The kids loved it. Underneath the upper section are hidden little seats and wooden blocks to spin around. It does look very worn as I guess the wood is about 15 years old now, but it’s still a pleasant play area.

This is a very popular playground which is the only reason we don’t visit very often, even pre-Covid, it gets crowded. But this week we visited on a day where it was predicted to rain, so it was a bit quieter.

By the playground is the San Remo cafe which is open, and there are picnic tables outside. The loos are also here. Opposite the cafe are some wooden sculptures.

What I didn’t take a photo of is the other children’s playground on the other side. It’s more of an ordinary, not a wooden one.

We had a really lovely morning here and the children felt like they had an adventure. And it’s all free! As I said earlier, Tyler wants to come back. I think it’s one of those places you always drive past but never actually stop at, so I will make sure we do visit here more often. There’s also a McDonalds on the other side of the Target Roundabout which is handy.

So that’s Northala Fields, something very pretty to have come out of the old Wembley Stadium! If you do visit, let me know what you can spot from the top of the hill.

Sabrina x