A Weekend In Finchley

Being a South West London girl (born and bred), I've never really had the chance to explore some areas of London and I'm making a conscious effort to change that whenever I can. Summer in London is one of the best times to explore the city from the outside, that is, without being cooped up indoors sheltering from the rain. One of the perks of being in London is the sheer amount of greenery there is and the parks nestled within the city.

A weekend spent in Finchley called for some exploring. We've been graced with incredible sunshine over the past few weeks which I've been trying to make the most of. I knew I wanted to spend the day outdoors in the sunshine and decided to explore some local parks.

Stephens House and Gardens

Starting with Stephens House and Gardens which was only a few minutes walk away from where we were staying in Travelodge Finchley. The grounds and buildings were incredible albeit quite small in the grand scale of London parks but enough to create a distraction for a few hours.

I wore a white mini dress from New Look to keep me cool; I love the versatility of dresses which can be easily dressed up or down. For a day exploring London parks I paired the dress with my favourite white leather converse for an all white look - which in hindsight was particularly brave for ultimately, a day at the park sitting in the grass and making our way through muddy terrain. I popped on some new sunglasses from Dorothy Perkins which I am loving, they're grey with a marble effect running through them which gives such a fun contrast. I got this floral red bag from Kurt Geiger the day before and was desperate to take it on its first outing so I moved across all of my things and took it with me. It's probably a bit much for a walk in the park but I loved the addition as it released a pop of colour against my white outfit.

We made our way through the grounds passing through the children's playground, wildlife area, rockery garden and ended at the Bothy gardens (which only open at 1pm so we did have to hang around for a bit before we could go in and explore). The Bothy gardens was quite small but housed some beautiful plants, all of which were labelled making the gardens both educational and Instagram friendly! With that said, it was a really small area so we took a few photos and made our way to the next.

Kenwood House

From there we went to Kenwood House. If you're in the mood for a long walk then getting to Kenwood House is a 30-45 minutes walk from Finchley but we decided to jump on the underground instead to make the most of our time. Similarly to Stephens House and Gardens, Kenwood House is a huge house surrounded by acres of land. I've been once before for a shoot and remembered it being a really beautiful location. I believe Kenwood House is now a museum but we didn't venture inside (as I said, we were trying to make the most of the sunshine we had!) so we carried on snapping and walking.

Hampstead Heath

We continued to make our way through the park from Kenwood House after stopping for an ice-cream (I got a honeycomb scoop but was too greedy to snap a photo of it beforehand!) onto Hampstead Heath. Again, a really large park which was filled with people who must have had the same idea of taking in some sunshine like we did.

I'd love to know any of your North London (or general London) recommendations so please let me know in the comments below!

SHOP THE POST:

White dress - (c/o) New Look
Marble sunglasses - (c/o) Dorothy Perkins

White converse - JD Sports

Bag - (c/o) Kurt Geiger