Northala Fields

I must have driven past them at least a hundred times. Those four big mounds alongside the A40 near the Northolt roundabout. Watching the people walking up them whilst I was stuck in a traffic jam, vaguely thinking that they looked like an interesting place for a walk. Despite living only a couple of miles away at the time, we never quite got around to exploring them.

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

Having my sister and nieces come to visit for a few days is always a good encouragement to get out and explore somewhere new. Northala Fields, where the mounds are situated, was on my list of potential places and seemed like a good place for a walk on a sunny afternoon.

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

What I didn’t realise was that the mounds are only a small part of the park – from the A40 I couldn’t see the beautiful park behind them with its lakes and a big playground for the girls to explore. 27.5 hectares of open space, six interconnecting fishing lakes, a model boating lake, three wildlife ponds and two playgrounds.

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

The park first opened in 2008 and the four mounds were created using rubble from the original Wembley stadium. The tallest mound is 22m tall and we made a beeline for this, following the spiral path to the top. It was a very windy day and quite a climb for little legs but the two older girls were quite happy to take turns in carrying their little cousins whenever they got a little tired (and the toddler carrier came in very useful too!)

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love
The view from the top was wonderful – being able to see across to central London. We spotted the BT tower, the Gherkin, the Shard and Canary Wharf and the girls enjoyed being able to watch the planes coming in to land at Heathrow Airport.

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

 

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

The two older girls decided that the next mound was ideal for trying some hill rolling. They tried to encourage Jessica to give it a try close to the bottom but she wasn’t keen on the idea!

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

 

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

We didn’t explore the area around the lakes as the prospect of getting an ice-cream from the ice-cream van near the playground was much more appealing!

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

 

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

Inside the playground area, Jessica enjoyed climbing some mini mounds whilst Sophie had fun going down the slide with her cousins.

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

 

Northala Fields - Little Hearts, Big Love

A fun afternoon and definitely somewhere to add to the list of places to go for a walk – especially as there was so much of the park we didn’t get to explore this time around.

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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22 thoughts on “Northala Fields

  1. I love how far you could see from that highest mound, truly impressive, I was trying to pick out the same landmarks from your photo, harder than in real life I’m sure! What fun for the girls to have their cousins too. Thank you for sharing a great place for a family day out on country Kids.

    1. It is hard to pick out the landmarks from the photo – was definitely easier in real life. Lovely to link up to #CountryKids 🙂

    1. Thanks Caroline – it was a lovely day out and lovely to spend time with my sister and nieces too 🙂

  2. Ah such a lovely, happy post. Love all the smily photos. This looks like such a fab place to spend a few hours!
    Popping over from #CountryKids
    Becky xx

    1. Thank you. It was amazing – never realised how much space there was. Will definitely be going back at some point 🙂

  3. I’m sure your daughters will enjoy hill rolling when they’re a little older. As an adult I sometimes watch my son with trepidation whilst he’s rolling down ever steeper hills but I’m pretty sure it’s a passage of childhood.#countrykids

    1. Oh yes – I got quite nervous watching my nieces – perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing that Jessica wasn’t quite ready to join in!

  4. What a wonderful fun place that looks. I bet the mounds were a lot of fun along with the playground.
    Love the ice cream face!
    Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids

    1. It was a lot of fun and the ice-cream went down very well! Lovely to link up to #LetKidsBeKids 🙂

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