The seasonal shift is in full swing here on Hampstead Heath and we’ve seen some very soggy days, interspersed with glorious brief spells of autumnal sunshine.

Here at Heath Hands, autumn is a busy period, and our staff and volunteers, alongside staff from the City of London and English Heritage, get stuck into the post-summer catch up on conservation tasks on the Heath and at Highgate Wood and getting our parks and gardens ready for winter at Kenwood, the Hill Garden and Golders Hill Park and Keats House.

Despite the colder and sometimes unsettled weather, autumn, with its ever-changing colours, is a glorious time to explore the Heath and enjoy time in nature.

At the start of the month, we enjoyed hosting the annual fun-filled Hampstead Heath Conker Championships, and since then we’ve been busy planning the rest of our autumnal programme.

Why not wrap up warm and join us on one of our upcoming nature activities, which include forest bathing, nature journaling with a local artist, nature walks and more?

Karin Oleinikova says that going into nature improves wellbeingKarin Oleinikova says that going into nature improves wellbeing (Image: Heath Hands) And with half-term on the horizon, we have a family drop-in gardening session, Halloween nature activities and two spooky bat walks!

As well as being a good way of keeping the family entertained, contact with nature and time spent outdoors, especially as the days shorten, has great health and wellbeing benefits.

In addition to our weekly health walks (on Mondays and Thursdays), we’ve recently launched two new wellbeing initiatives on the Heath: a monthly women-only walk on the first Wednesday of the month at 9.30am (next walk – November 6), and a targeted programme of weekly nature mindfulness walks for parents or carers with children who have health or wellbeing issues.

These walks will be led by a trained nature mindfulness practitioner and aim to support parents and carers during this time, and therefore indirectly support young people’s wellbeing and recovery.

All our health and wellbeing programmes are free, while we ask for a small donation to cover some of our activities where they involve equipment (eg bat walks and nature journaling). Our Friends membership gives free access to all our activities, as well as a monthly newsletter with updates on our work and upcoming events.

For more information on all of the upcoming activities on Hampstead Heath please visit: heath-hands.org.uk

  • Karin Oleinikova is programme manager for Heath Hands.