Introduction
Now open to the public, the gardens retain features from the old layout, including terraced lawns and water-gardens up the western side, with C19th rock-works, cascade, rustic bridges and an octagonal wooden summer house.
The Highlands park features a fish pond with a scenic stream and waterfall as well as calming lawns and flower beds. Meandering tree lined paths weave between the parks features.
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
Directions
Tube: High Barnet (Northern) then bus. Bus 34, 84A, 234, 263, 307.
Owners
London Borough of Barnet
Other Websites
- History
Highlands House was built in 1897 for the banker Joseph Bevan Braithwaite (1855-1934) who is thought to have designed the gardens.
In 1930, George P. Howe bought the house, or part of it, and converted it to eight flats that he rented out. Around 1951, the house became a family home again after Howe allowed his married children and his grandchildren to live there.
The park was opened in 1931 in the grounds of Highlands House which already had a well-established set of gardens. The entrance is on the corner of Leicester Road and Abbotts Road. The gardens consist of a lawn terrace with a pergola walk on the north side and water and rock features on the western side. All four sides of the gardens include mature trees. The rockworks were probably the work of James Pulham and Son, around 1871, of nearby Broxbourne. An aviary by the name of the "Bird World Display Centre" existed on the northern edge of the gardens until the late 1990s.
By 1972 the house had deteriorated and it was demolished, eventually being replaced by a block of flats known as The Highlands
- Features & Designations
Features
- Gardens
- Lawn
- Water Garden
- wa
- Rockwork
- r
- Cascade
- Bridge
- Summerhouse
- Key Information
Type
Park
Purpose
Ornamental
Principal Building
Parks, Gardens And Urban Spaces
Survival
Extant
Hectares
1.13
Open to the public
Yes