Days Out in North London
To help you explore North London and uncover some of its hidden gems, we've created a series of seven itineraries from Waltham Forest to Barnet. Each itinerary is designed for a full day out - or can easily be split into a half-day if you've only got a couple of hours.
Click on the titles to download the itineraries.
Walthamstow 
Discovering Walthamstow is like unlocking a magical Russian doll. On the surface there’s the beautiful Epping Forest to the East the gentle River Lea to the West. But the layers between reveal stark contrasts of ancient and modern and rural to urban, which make exploring the area a real surprise and delight. A loud and colourful East End market sits side by side with a remarkable Saxon village and the infamous dog-racing stadium rubs shoulders with an Elizabethan hunting lodge; all play their part in a vibrant living history.
Crouch End
Crouch End is in one of London’s best kept secrets. Sitting in a valley between Crouch Hill and Highgate to the south and west, and Muswell Hill and Alexandra Park to the north, it has all the qualities of a small rural village. Its friendly street bistros and pretty and quiet areas of parkland all give the area a leafy suburban character. But this belies the cosmopolitan edge of its residents and attractions. Crouch End is very much part of the city too. Famous residents have included Simon Pegg who filmed his cult classic film Shaun of the Dead in the area.
Enfield
Enfield Town is a thriving, modern market town. With a new library and arts centre on the way and an attractive extension to its shopping centre, it looks set to become an even more popular destination. But there is a far older and richer history to discover here too. During the early 12th Century, Enfield was a collection of small communities spread around the royal deer hunting grounds of the day. Only a small amount of the original forest remains, but the area still brims with beautiful countryside, parkland and magical old houses.
Lee Valley (part I) / (part II)
The Lee Valley Regional Park is a truly unique and magical stretch of urban parkland. Its 26 glorious miles follow the route of the Lee Navigation from Ware in Hertfordshire right down to the River Thames in East London. The numerous nature reserves, leisure facilities and pretty lake and riverside trails offer a truly surprising and at times breathtaking array of sights and activities to see and do.
Trent Park
Trent Park has a long history of leisure, sport and creativity. In Tudor times, it formed part of Enfield 
Chase, a traditional hunting ground for the court of Henry VIII. Today you are more likely to spot students traversing the beautiful swathes of remaining parkland than lords and ladies. But the bustling student population inhabits an area, of which a significant part remains largely as it has always been. Moreover, this is an area where history and iconic period design have grown sympathetically over time, from Southgate’s 1930s tube station to Humphry Repton’s landscape architecture in the ground of Trent Park Mansion. The impressive mix of sport and culture all at the end of the Piccadilly tube line provides more than enough stimulation to keep you busy for many a weekend.
Barnet
Barnet is the gateway to London. Travellers from the North have stopped here for hundreds of years, to graze their horses, rest their legs and sharpen their tools before they enter the City. Today of course, northerners are more likely to travel down the M1 by car than on horseback. But the area’s great journeying past continues. Signs of the area’s rich heritage can be found throughout the borough. What’s more, Barnet is constantly renewing itself; each generation of immigrants continue to leave their mark.
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