Pasture is perfect for exercise in the fresh air

By Linda Dolata. As published on The Archer, November 2020

Team work: The Good Gym volunteers were regular volunteers at Long Lane Pasture this year. It remains open to visitors on Saturdays and most Sundays through the winter. Photo Donald Lyven.
Team work: The Good Gym volunteers were regular volunteers at Long Lane Pasture this year. It remains open to visitors on Saturdays and most Sundays through the winter. Photo Donald Lyven.

This has been a strange year, and many of you will have become aware of all the benefits of being outside and taking in the wonder of the natural environment around us.

This has become very apparent at Long Lane Pasture, opposite Finchley Fire Station, where we have had a large numbers of visitors, far more than ever before. Young families especially have dropped in, but also a wide range of people who just want somewhere calm, quiet and pleasant to relax.

The pasture, with its unmanicured copses and meadows, reed-fringed ponds and constant birdsong, butterflies and bees, and of course our famous blackberries in August, has so much to offer, and we have been absolutely delighted to see so many new faces.

A refrain we heard again and again was that visitors had no idea that such a beautiful place existed minutes away from their homes.

Maintaining the balance

All this, however, needs some maintenance to prevent it being overwhelmed by the thuggish brambles and hops, thistles and nettles and vigorous sallows, ashes, and prunus, at the expense of the subtler meadow flowers, shyer grasses, ferns and slow-growing trees.

This constant balance is achieved by a tiny number of volunteers, and sadly we are mostly well over 60 (apologies, Ollie and young Seb), and find some of the physical work too demanding. Many visitors expressed an interest in helping and it is now, at this time of year, that much of the cutting, reaping, and stacking of vegetation has to be done.

Floral glory: This snakeshead plant is just one of the beautiful inhabitants of the pasture
Floral glory: This snakeshead plant is just one of the beautiful inhabitants of the pasture

So forget the gym and boring repetitive exercises, please consider joining us, and benefiting your own physical and mental health at the same time. In present circumstances, it's best to bring your own gloves and secateurs or loppers. We meet at the pasture every Saturday morning from 10am to 12 noon.

Long Lane Pasture entrance is located alongside the North Circular Road, off the pathway that starts on the opposite side of Long Lane to the fire station. We would love to see you, you would be most welcome. If you have any questions, please .