A new Hampstead Heath culture trail is encouraging visitors to explore both the famous and hidden gem attractions around the green space. The pocket-sized map is a free guide that opens out to show how visitors can access a wealth of historical and cultural sites on foot or by public transport.
Trail Design and First Joint Initiative
The Hampstead & Highgate Culture Trail has been designed by Marina Turmo with motifs of foxes, trees, red phone boxes, and heritage lampposts between the cultural landmarks. The trail is the first joint initiative between the venues across the area, according to Burgh House director Moira Lascelles.
At the centre is English Heritage-run Kenwood House, the 18th century mansion which is free to visit year round and boasts a world class art collection donated by Guinness heir Lord Iveagh a century ago. Burgh House, the Queen Anne era 1703 property that is a community space housing art and artefacts on the history of Hampstead, is another stop on the route.
Cultural Landmarks on the Route
Sigmund Freud's Belsize Park home is now a museum where you can sit in the garden or see his famous couch which was shipped from Vienna. As is 2 Willow Road, the former home of modernist architect Erno Goldfinger which is run by The National Trust. And the Isokon Gallery in Lawn Road which tells how Agatha Christie lived in the modernist flats during the Second World War and wrote what became The Mousetrap there.
The Circle and Star pub theatre and Well Walk children's theatre and cafe in Hampstead are also on the map as is Keats House where the Romantic poet wrote some of his most famous verse. Further into Belsize Park is the museum and former home of Sigmund Freud who moved to Maresfield Gardens in 1938 a year before his death to escape the Nazis.
Highgate Sites and Director's Comments
Over on the other side of the Heath there is another pub theatre Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate and Lauderdale House arts centre. And Highgate Cemetery where you can take a tour of the historic Victorian burial ground which is the last resting place of the likes of Karl Marx, George Michael, George Eliot, Douglas Adams and Lucien Freud.
Moira Lascelles, who took over as Burgh House director six months ago, said the trail is the first initiative from the new Hampstead & Highgate Cultural Quarter, a network of venues across the north London neighbourhood. "It's a beautifully illustrated map that celebrates the wealth of arts, culture and heritage to discover across Hampstead and Highgate," she said. "The map was released last month in time for our second Open House Sunday at Burgh House and many of the places you can walk to within 20 minutes."
"We are giving it away for free so people can pick it up and if they come to Hampstead for the day they can go to the Heath, have a coffee, see a show at Camden Arts Centre and perhaps discover some other places they didn't know about," Lascelles added.
Free Copies and Participating Venues
Copies are free at all participating venues including: 2 Willow Road, Fenton House, Kenwood House, Camden Art Centre, Isokon Gallery, Well Walk Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, JW3, Keats House, Lauderdale House, Highgate Cemetery, the Freud Museum, Hampstead Theatre, Upstairs at the Gatehouse and Circle + Star Theatre.
