A few weeks ago, a friend who lives in Brentford took me on a walk around the area to show me the redevelopment that has taken place. I have to say that Brentford – in a sort of no man’s land between Hounslow and Chiswick, below Ealing and across the river from Kew – hadn’t featured high on my list as a place to walk the dog or to visit, but I was impressed. And we found a couple of good local pubs amongst all the terraced houses and a couple on the river.
Whilst some parts of Brentford remained rather unloved, I did discover some beautiful places. There was the old world charm of houses around the square at The Butts and the sunny waterside along the canals. He pointed out the steam and musical museums. Then, of course, there is the riverside with great views of old barges and all the greenery.
We hadn’t had time to visit the green areas so yesterday I returned to take a better look at Gunnersbury Park. It took a while, driving around, to find the entrance to the car park near the museum and arts centre, on Pope’s Lane.
So using the street entrance – which is just opposite the delightful Bray’s Pond - you pass a short, tree filled path to reach a café (noted the dog water bowl outside) and a round pond with a view of a folly. Here there were families happily feeding ducks and geese. Alfie showed amazing restraint in not chasing the opportunistic pigeons.
The park covers a large area, with paths alongside nurseries and offering wide open spaces for running and playing. There were plenty of people pottering around – and many of them were walking their dogs in the cold Sunday sunshine. We didn’t make it all the way down to the larger Potomac pond. But it was a surprise to find such a large, peaceful green space – and I discovered two children’s play areas – hidden away so close to the busy traffic A4.
