The Hampstead Pergola and Hill Garden

Published 21 September 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

The Hampstead Pergola is a raised Edwardian walkway of stone columns and timber beams on the western edge of Hampstead Heath, with a formal garden beside it. Entry is free, there is no ticket desk, and on a weekday morning you may well be the only person there. It is currently propped with scaffolding while urgent repairs go on, so some sections are closed off.

It was built for William Hesketh Lever, later Lord Leverhulme, the soap manufacturer, and designed by the landscape architect Thomas Mawson. The point of it was to raise a terrace above the sloping ground of West Heath so that Lever's guests could walk along it and look out over the trees. Next to it lies the Hill Garden, once the private garden of a manor house that no longer exists.

Our guide to Hampstead Heath covers the ponds, the view from Parliament Hill and Kenwood House. The pergola sits at the opposite end of the Heath from all of those, and most people who walk the Heath never reach it. This page is about getting to it, when it is open, and what state it is in.

What is actually there

The pergola runs for several hundred feet as a covered walk on a raised terrace, carried on stone piers and columns with timber crossbeams overhead. Climbers grow up and over it, so in late spring and early summer you walk under wisteria and rambling roses, and in winter you walk under bare wood. Beneath the terrace are vaulted spaces; on one side the ground drops away into the woodland of West Heath.

The Hill Garden next to it is a proper formal garden, with lawns, a pond, borders and a belvedere, laid out on the site of a house that has gone. The two are usually spoken of as one place, and the City of London Corporation manages them together as part of Hampstead Heath.

Both are small. A slow circuit takes thirty to forty minutes. People come here to photograph the columns and to sit, not to walk for exercise, and the surrounding Heath is where you go if you want distance.

The repairs, and what they mean for your visit

In November 2025 the pergola was added to Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register, which identifies buildings and structures that need urgent conservation. The City has started essential maintenance work, and its own visitor page warns that some areas are inaccessible and that scaffolding is on site.

That does not mean the place is shut. It does mean that photographs taken before 2025 may not match what you find, and that the walk may be broken into sections. If the structure matters to you more than the garden, check the City's page for the pergola shortly before you travel. The Heath team is also raising money towards the conservation work through donations.

Opening times change every fortnight

The gates open at 8.30am every day of the year. Closing time moves through the year in steps of roughly a fortnight, from 3pm in the depths of winter to 8pm at midsummer. The 2026 pattern published by the City runs like this.

The awkward part of that table is late October, when the clocks go back and closing jumps from 5pm to 3.30pm overnight. A visit planned for a late autumn afternoon can easily arrive to find locked gates.

Finding it, which is harder than it should be

There is no grand entrance. The way in is off Inverforth Close, a private-looking lane running off North End Way, and there is a second approach up a path from West Heath below. Neither is signposted from the main road in a way you would notice from a bus.

From the Northern line terminus at Golders Green the walk takes about twenty minutes, mostly along North End Road and North End Way, and it climbs steadily on the way out. Buses 210 and 268 drop you closer. Jack Straw's car park, named after the pub that used to stand there, is five minutes away on foot and is the only sensible place to leave a car.

Coming from Hampstead village, allow about 25 minutes over the Heath's western flank, which is a pleasure in dry weather and a mud bath after rain. Our guide to Hampstead as a neighbourhood covers the village end, and how London buses work is worth reading if you plan to use the 210, which is one of the more useful and less frequent routes in north London.

When to go, and when not to bother

A weekday morning between opening and about 11am is the reason this place has a reputation for emptiness. Weekend afternoons in May and June are the opposite: this is one of the most photographed structures in north London and wedding and fashion shoots compete with visitors for the good spots.

Late May into June is the best time for the climbing plants. Late autumn has the better light on the stonework, with fewer people. In deep winter the garden has little to show, and the early closing time makes the trip harder to justify unless you are combining it with something else.

What is not there: toilets, tea and benches

This is a garden the City maintains rather than a visitor attraction, and the facilities reflect that. There is no café, no kiosk, no shop and no toilet inside the gates. There is no information desk and usually nobody to ask. Seating exists but is limited, and on a fine weekend the good benches along the terrace go early.

The nearest reliable stop for a drink, a lavatory and a sit down is the café in Golders Hill Park, a short walk north, which keeps its own seasonal hours. Hampstead village in the other direction has plenty of choice but is a 25-minute walk away. Bring water in summer, because the climb up from West Heath is steeper than it looks on a map.

One more practical point: the terrace surface is uneven in places and parts of it are stepped, so the pergola itself is not fully step-free even when no scaffolding is up. The Hill Garden below is easier going, with lawn paths and gentler gradients.

The history in short

Lever bought The Hill, the house beside the site, in 1904, and over the following two decades expanded the grounds and built the terrace. Mawson was among the best known landscape architects of the period, and the pergola is his most theatrical surviving London work. Spoil from the digging of the Northern line extension was used to raise the ground.

After Lever's death the estate passed on, the house eventually became Inverforth House, and the gardens fell into neglect. The City of London Corporation took the pergola and the Hill Garden on and restored them in the 1990s. The current repairs are the next round of the same problem: a timber and stone structure that has been standing in English weather for over a century.

Combining it with the rest of north London

The obvious pairing is Golders Hill Park, immediately north, which has a free zoo and a café and is covered in our Heath guide. Beyond that, Keats House and the Freud Museum are both small, paid museums within a couple of miles, and Highgate Cemetery is on the other side of the Heath.

If swimming is on your list, the bathing ponds are covered in our page on London's swimming ponds and lidos. For the rest of the high ground, Highgate and Crouch End and Alexandra Palace continue the ridge eastwards. There are good old pubs within walking distance in every direction, which is not true of most London parks.

Two other free gardens make natural companions on a list rather than in a single day: the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park, which peaks for about three weeks in spring, and the walled and enclosed plots gathered in our guide to London's hidden gardens. Like the pergola, all of them belong on any sensible list of things in London that cost nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Hampstead Pergola free to visit?

Yes. It is managed by the City of London Corporation as part of Hampstead Heath, and there is no entry charge, ticket or booking. There is also no café, shop or toilet inside the Hill Garden, so plan for those in Golders Hill Park or Hampstead village.

What time does the Hampstead Pergola open and close?

It opens at 8.30am every day. Closing time changes roughly every fortnight through the year, from 3pm in midwinter to 8pm between late April and mid-August. The published 2026 table is the one to check, and the biggest jump comes in late October when closing moves from 5pm to 3.30pm.

Is the Hampstead Pergola closed for repairs?

Not closed, but under repair. The City says essential maintenance work is under way, with scaffolding on site and some areas inaccessible. The structure was added to Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register in November 2025. Check the City of London page before travelling.

How do I get to the Hampstead Pergola by Tube?

Golders Green on the Northern line is the nearest station, about twenty minutes away on foot and uphill. Buses 210 and 268 stop closer. The entrance is off Inverforth Close on North End Way and is easy to walk past, so look for it on a map before you set out.

Can I take my dog to the Hill Garden and Pergola?

Only assistance dogs are allowed inside the Hill Garden and Pergola, although dogs are welcome on the surrounding Heath. If you are walking a dog, plan to use West Heath below and visit the pergola another time.

Sources

• City of London Corporation - The Hill Garden and Pergola (checked September 2026)
• City of London Corporation - Hampstead Heath (checked September 2026)
• City of London Corporation - Where to go at Hampstead Heath (checked September 2026)