Acton Green Common, Gunnersbury Triangle Local Nature Reserve and Chiswick Common
- Start and finish: Turnham Green tube station
- Distance: 3.13 km (1.9 miles)
- Transport: Bus 94, 440, E3; tube Turnham Green, Chiswick Park
- Parking: Parking meters in a few streets around Turnham Green station.
- Facilities: Several cafés and shops in Turnham Green Terrace around the station. Toilets in Acton Green Common at the junction of South Parade and Beaconsfield Road.
- Accessibility: This walk is not suitable for wheelchairs.
A walk that joins up three open spaces which are all close to rail or underground lines. The walk is mostly quite level but it does go over a footbridge at one point, and there are some steps in the nature reserve.
Directions
Outside the tube station, cross Turnham Green Terrace carefully at the traffic island, and walk into Acton Green Common. The main path here once formed part of the Roman road between London and the West. Follow the path by the railway line and, with due caution, cross Fishers Lane into the second part of Acton Green Common. Take the path directly in front of you and then the left-hand fork past the playground. Go out into a quiet road that carries straight past the rest of the park and head for a railway bridge that you'll soon see in front of you.
After the bridge, cross the road at the zebra crossing, walk past the front of Chiswick Park station, and then cross over another zebra crossing. Turn right and then left into Gunnersbury Triangle Local Nature Reserve. The woodland here has grown up naturally and was declared a local nature reserve in 1987. Go down the slope after the hut into the wood. The walk largely goes round the circumference of the reserve. In other words, take the first path on the left (where there is a post numbered two), then the first on the right (post number three). It's now straight ahead until you take the right-hand path at a T-junction (post number seven). Just follow this path past the ponds and the meadow and it will take you back to the hut at the entrance.
Now retrace your steps towards the children's playground in Acton Green Common. At the playground, take the road to the right, which leads under the railway lines. Cross the footbridge, go down a little road and take the first left into Belmont Road. Cross over when the road is quiet, and follow it around till you come to Fishers Lane. Cross with care, and take the path through Chiswick Common along the lines of poplars and hollies. Cross Turnham Green Terrace at the zebra crossing and turn left. You will be back at Turnham Green station once you go under the railway lines.