A couple of weeks ago, I posted my first entry in the "Walking the Celandine Route" in west London from Pinner to Eastcote House (Walking the Celandine Route: Eastcote House to Pinner (Hillingdon, London)). This time, my walk covers Eastcote House to Ruislip along the River Pinn and the Celandine Route trail. The Celandine Route is primarily located in the borough of Hillingdon in west London, and it follows the River Pinn from Hayes and finishes at Pinner. The trail is a twelve-mile walkway through meadows, parks, and woodlands along the river, and it is named after the Lesser Celandine, a yellow flowering woodland plant. The walk takes six hours in total, and I have completed the walk in sections. This post covers Eastcote House to Ruislip, and I completed the walk in mid-February.
My first stop was Eastcote House, and I walked to Lawrence's Pie & Mash. It is located in a tiny parade of shops formed of older buildings near the entrance to the grounds of Eastcote House. There's also a pub and a couple of other restaurants there (fish and chips and Italian) and a newsagent and corner shop. Lawrence's Pie & Mash offers traditional pie with mash and liquor. Liquor is a type of herby sauce that is put over the pie and mash. I had the vegetable pie and a slice of chocolate fudge cake with custard.
I visited during the coronavirus pandemic, and the little cafe at Eastcote House was not open until recently, though it does not offer the full range of items, and queues are long and time-consuming. The pie and mash was provided as a takeaway so that I could enjoy it in the walled gardens.
There are some old cottages and buildings along this little part of land between Eastcote and Ruislip; I believe it's known as Eastcote Village and is in the Eastcote Preservation Area.
I explored a little bit of Eastcote House gardens, which are really coming to life now with the earliest flowers and plants in bloom, promising that spring is on its way. Primroses, crocuses, and snowdrops cover the grounds, and the daffodils are starting to make an appearance too. I've visited the gardens a few times a month over February, so I was able to see the gardens transformed a little bit each time.
There are a couple of walks through the grounds of Eastcote House to find the river, and the below is a small pathway that follows the boundary of the road.
I took a wrong turn and found the river, but it was fenced off near the Eastcote Cricket Grounds and exceptionally muddy here.
But I soon got back on track and crossed the bridge with views over the river, which I then followed along a better-kept pathway. Of course, this pathway was still extremely muddy.
This goes past the Eastcote Preservation Area, which is located in front of the little parade of shops where there's pie and mash, fish and chips, a pub, and other shops. There were a few crocuses coming from the lawn here.
At the end of this section (and you can see the parade of shops in the photograph below) is a bridge over the river. I crossed this bridge, and on the other side of it on the right is a patch of beautiful wildflowers - crocuses, snowdrops and some daffodils. It's a beautiful little patch.
At the end of the bridge, the route follows a muddy section between the rivers and houses on the other side. It is very muddy here.
After the muddy trail, a road is crossed, and there is a section of paved trail that takes you to another road along the river and then to the start of large open fields that are playing fields.
Pinn Meadows is the name of one section of the playing fields, and the entrance here was muddy as well as were the pinch points along the trail through the trees.
After crossing this field, another field comes into view with houses along the edges of the field. These are the King's College Playing Fields. The fields probably obtain their name from the fact that the land in Ruislip belonged to King's College Cambridge, and it was sold off to developers to build the housing estate on the fringes of London during the 1930s.
The river borders on edge of the playing fields, acting as a natural boundary.
In the middle of the playing fields is a concerte bridge. This is the main road through the playing fields - King's College Road. The road leads to housing estates with large houses at the end and bordering onto Ruislip Woods. Across the road here is a circular King's College Athletic Track and skatepark with more playing fields and King's Cafe. There are several athletic facilities here. The Ruislip Woods has a main route along the top of this road as well, and it's easy to walk to the lido from here too.
After the Athletic Track, the trail crosses the river again on a tiny narrow bridge.
This takes you past more open space fields, the boundaries of the playing fields and housing estate with large detached houses.
There are a couple of additional bridges here, and these grounds are also very muddy.
Another bridge across the route is for St. Martin's Approach road, and there are open fields on both sides.
The last section of ground here in Ruislip is the road Pinn Way, bordering these fields. This is where you can break from the Celandine Route and visit Winston Churchill Theatre, which is along the route here bordering the field, and at the top of the small hill is Ruislip Manor house and barn and Duck Pond Market, which is open on selected weekend days each month.
The Ruislip Manor House is a motte and bailey site, and the ditch on the far side (down closer to the river and at the bottom of the little hill) has contained some Roman pottery and artefacts, suggesting that it has been settled here for many years. Read more about Ruislip Manor Farm and Ruislip Castle.
I have yet to walk the Ruislip to Ickenham part of the Celandine Route, but keep checking back for an update.
More posts about Ruislip:
A Wintery Walk in Mad Bess Wood (Ruislip, West London)
A Snow Day in Ruislip
Visiting the Battle of Britain House Ruins in Ruislip Woods
Ruislip "Summer of 1939" Vintage Car Show
Ruislip Fairy Village
Easter in Ruislip (Easter Eggs & Duck Pond Markets)
Ruislip Lido Railway & Ruislip Woods Open Day
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