M

I keep hearing about Hampstead Heath & how wonderful it is. Can we tube there?? Is it outside of Zone 1? Any additional information about this area is appreciated.

anna

I think it's in zone 3. the nearest tube stop is Hampstead, on the Northern (black) line - Edgware branch. It's very easily accessible from central London

k

It is lovely, the town is great,the Heath is great and there is a wonderful view of London~be on the lookout for Magpies in the Park and there is an area that you DO NOT want to wander in, where men go to meet each other in the bushes

t

t

janis

Both Hampstead and nearby Highgate are lovely "villages" in the middle of metropolitan London. Both are in zone 3 - but don't let that put you off, simply ask the tube ticket seller for a supplement to your zone 1 pass.<BR><BR>Hampstead vilage has a lot of beautiful homes - some quite historic, all very expensive, restaurants, shops, etc. The heath is a vas parkland - in the middle of the Heath you would think you were 100 miles out in the country - except for the fantastic views over all of London. Kenwood House is open to the public and is really interested. There is also an open air stage and concert site. Just outside the park are several really old pubs including the Spaniards Inn which is great.<BR><BR>Highate village is hilly and has some great restaurants, etc. also Highgate cemetary.

MrsWilson

I love Hampstead Heath... haven't dared to take a dip in the bathing ponds though.. maybe this summer.

Dale

I was there last month, and could not figure out whether H.H. was Zone 2 or Zone 3 as the dividing line between the two zones on the map goes right through the station. Even on the big zone/stop map right in the underground that lists the various tube stations and the zones in which they are located, it says, "Hampstead 2/3", meaning zones two and three. Anyway, I only had a 1-2 zone one-day pass and I was not going to stand in line to ask, so I went ahead and used it. I made out okay, but I hope I didn't do anything wrong. This perplexing zone question is definitely one for Ben Haines or another London expert. By the way, there is a London Original Walking tour of Hampstead if you're interested. Just go to their web page at www.walks.com for the details. I couldn't take that tour because of scheduling conflicts. Darn!<BR><BR>Have fun as the short trip to H.H. is well worth it. It is definitely on my "wanna-go-back" list.<BR><BR>Dale

Joanne

Dale, I agree - it woudl be very helpful for Ben or another expert to tell us -- The official map of the London Underground is a great graphic, truly a brilliant piece of work. But it's very confusing to see some stations marked exactly on the boundary between two zones, such as Hampstead, Archway, Manor House. The Greenwich stops are particularly confusing. Last year, I stayed at a home in Zone 4, so the question was academic, but this summer I'll be staying in Zone 2, so I'd really like to know! Perhaps those stations can be "counted" as in either zone, whichever is more advantageous to the passnger?

M

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ron

Joanne, you have it exactly right about the zones. Consider it zone 3 if you are going outward to(or coming inward from) zones 3 to 6. And consider it zone 2 when going to or from zone 1.

Kavey

I believe that any station marked with two zones is considered to be in both.<BR><BR>So if it says 2/3 and you are coming from zone 1 then you only need a ticket which covers zones 1 and 2. If you are coming from a higher zone then your ticket needs only include zone 3 and not 2 (unless you are going into 2 later).

sally

A little humor - last year my boyfriend (who lived in London) and I went to Hampstead Heath. The only problem - we couldn't find the Heath. We saw the cute town, grounds of a nice estate but couldn't find the damned heath. Even asked people for directions and still couldn't find it so we spent the afternoon in a nice pub instead. Embarrased by our failure to find the seemingly obvious heath since we are intelligent well traveled people, we slunk back to our friends flat and eventually reported that we couldn't find it. our friends started laughing and said they also went to take a walk there one day and couldn't find it either so were waiting to hear how we liked it.

Traveler

I don't get it.How can you miss the Heath? the town is at the foot of it when you get off of the Tube..you just walk uphill.And how would any Londoner not know where it is?? I was there as a tourist, got off the train,walked out to the street,walked up the hill and there it was!Did they move it???

Wuthering

sally-are you sure you didn't go to the pub first?

trying

I believe my parents also had difficulty finding the Heath. Maybe there is another tube stop that isn't as convenient to the Heath???

Blanche

I like strolling around the cemetery at Highgate and enjoying the heath. To me it really simplified things when I learned not to take the Highgate tube stop, rather go to Archway (NOT Marble Arch, ARCHWAY). You exit the station, turn left and stroll up the hill. Bob's yer uncle.

elaine

An excellent walking guide to Hampstead and the Heath can be found in the book The Perfect London Walk by Ebert (yes, the film critic) and Curley.

curious

Bob's your Uncle meaning "duh" in English??

Patrick Wallace

No, 'Bob's yer uncle' is (nowadays) much less critical than 'duh' (I take it that's 'duh' as in 'well..duh' or 'duh-er' rather than Homer Simpson's 'doh!'...&lt;vbg&gt. It just means that something you're trying to do is easy (but I think originally it referred to someone who got a government job when the Prime Minister was his Uncle Bob).