Bentley Priory Nature Reserve

This park offers a great area to get away for many occasions.
In the center of the park is Summerhouse Lake with ducks and swans gracing the water. The southern end of the park is predominately open fields and the northern half is forested. Throughout the reserve are gates that are designed to not allow cattle to pass through as during certain times of year sheep and cows use some of the areas.


In the northeast corner lies a private deer park which can be accessed via the main paved path that runs north to south. There are tens of fallow deer here. On a sunny February day many of them were lined up at the fence to receive the food offerings brough by various children and their parents. They seemed to really enjoy the carrots.


If you drive to the park from the stanmore side you may find a place to park off of Old Lodge Way. This park also connects to Harrow Weald Common from the northwest corner. At the top of the Hill lies the the Bentley Priory buildings. The whole park makes a great place to take family for a walk and give the children a chance to really stretch out there legs.


http://www.travelnwork.info/2008/02/bentley-priory-nature-reserve-walk-in.html
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZqgStu8OMY

Since moving to the area three months ago, I have made several excursions to the Nature Reserve, using bus services to (or from) Stanmore. The most useful was the 142 route (a long route from Brent Cross in the south to Watford Junction in the north). I have tried the Aylmer Drive entrance (twice), the Embury Way gate, the Old Lodge Way entrance, and the Bentley Way Gate. For the Deer Park I initially found the route via Aylmer Drive to be the most interesting as it went through woods and suddenly arrived at the corner of the Deer Park that the deers seemed to find most popular, probably because it was where most visitors congregated to feed them On my second attempt, however, I landed mysefl in a lot of trouble as the ground was very waterlogged and boggy. One reason why my rating dropped a star was because there is a notable lack of signage in the reserve. Although all the maps I have seen show a clear path from Aylmer Drive to the Deer Park, there is no sign to warn walkers that the path may be impassable. Perhaps I took the wrong route, or the true path had become overgrown, but when I tried to find alternative routes back to the main Deer Walk, they all terminated in boggy ground.
that small criticism apart, however, I anticipate returning to Bentley Priory Nature Reserve many more times in the future and thoroughly recommend a visit with children who will enjoy both the deers and the walks.