West London contains an unexpected gem a ten-minute walk from Perivale tube station on the Central line. Just north of the tube station is Horsenden Hill, a wooded and pastured hill with walking trails, roaming cattle, a bakery, canalside walks, and more. Horseden Hill almost feels as though it is not a part of London. A colleague recommended Horseden Hill bakery (known as Horsenden Loaf) during the lockdown in early March this year, and I visited it for the first time in March. At that time, it was open on Wednesday mornings and Saturday mornings, and I had some time off to use, so I visited it on the Wednesday. After the lockdown ended, the opening days were changed to Saturdays and Sundays.
Horsenden Loaf bakery and ovens were built in 2019 with the grand opening in December of that year. Then, the pandemic hit, and the bakery had to be closed for a week due to the lack of flour. However, they were able to open and have been trading since - selling bread, doughnuts, jams, and other items. The bakery produces small-batch items, and they sell items until everything sells out.
On my first visit, I bought a loaf of bread, biscuits, and doughnuts. The bread really is the best.
The items are sold at Horsenden Farm, and there is parking below, though the road up to it and the bridge over the canal is narrow.
The second visit to Horsenden Hill was made by tube at the start of October, and I purchased the cheese and onion flat bread, which is comparable to a pizza. I also purchased another loaf of bread, a filled cream doughnut, a brownie, a cookie, biscuits, and a cinnamon swirl bun. In addition to the bread, the cookie and brownies are also delicious. The brownies are gooey and chocolate-y instead of like cake. I am picky about my brownies as it seems that the British do not do a great job of baking them, and I was pleasantly surprised that Horsenden Loaf does an amazing brownie!
On my latest visit, I had a walk through Horsenden Hill to the "Gruffalo Trail". I thought that I'd check it out. The trail is short and stays around the farm in a loop walk, and it can be walked in thirty minutes easily. Along the way, visitors will see wooden sculptures of the characters in the "Gruffalo" books.
I did do a short diversion off of the trail as it was not very well sign-posted where it loops around, and this led up a pastured hill. There are cattle that roam here. I saw two older calves. They were more interested in grazing than the visitors.
The trail loops back around through the wooded area where visitors can spy the other sculptures before coming face-to-face with the title character itself.
The wooden sculptures include a mouse, a snake, a fox, an owl, and the "Gruffalo" monster.
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