Health walks in Acton and Ealing

Ealing Common

  • Start and finish: Ealing Common tube station
  • Distance: 3.1 km (1.92 miles)
  • Transport: Bus 83, 112, 207, E10; tube Ealing Common
  • Parking: Limited in surrounding streets where there are parking regulations at certain times.
  • Facilities: Cafés and shops around Ealing Common station, and the Grange Tavern on the route. Toilets on Ealing Common facing Uxbridge Road at the beginning of the route.
  • Accessibility: This walk is not suitable for wheelchairs.

This is a pleasant walk that goes twice round the avenues of horse chestnuts that line Ealing Common. The walk is mostly on grassed areas but pavements are always nearby, even if sometimes they are on the other side of the road.

Directions

Turn left out of Ealing Common station. Cross over the first road you come to and take the path going through the middle of the park. Cross over the North Circular Road at the pedestrian crossing but take care – this is a very busy road. Walk on down the road ahead of you (Warwick Road) under the horse chestnut trees. These magnificent trees were mostly planted in the 1880s after the heath scrub, which once covered Ealing Common had been cleared. At the drinking fountain you'll see the Grange Tavern across the road, but walk along the grass inside the park all the way up to the Uxbridge Road and bend right. The cement blocks that you can see near this corner mark the entrances to underground air raid shelters, which were in use in the Second World War.

Walk along the edge of the common, crossing over a footpath and passing by another old drinking fountain until you reach the junction of the Uxbridge Road and the North Circular. Carry on to the right and walk under the trees until you come to the crossing over the North Circular. Do another circuit of Ealing Common (the whole of which was registered as an ancient common in 1965) until you come back to this point again and then take the pedestrian crossing over the road. Follow the footpath directly in front of you and it will take you back to Ealing Common station.