H is for...Hampstead Heath

London, U.K.

I'm going to bend my own rules here a bit and wander into the territory of burroughs. Technically, Hampstead Heath is a parkland located within the boundaries of London, U.K. My other options for 'H' were Huntsville, Ont. (my whole post would've just revolved around visits to their frozen yogurt spot, Yog's) or Hamilton, Ont. (my whole post would've just revolved around driving through Hamilton to get somewhere else).

This post, I will tell you, is also inspired by a film I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. "Bright Star" is the latest from Jane Campion and tells the love story of Fanny Brawne and famed poet John Keats. Keats and Brawne both lived in Hampstead and watching the movie (a must-see, by the way) this weekend reminded me of my visit there nearly two centuries later.

On the day I visited Hampstead Heath, my friend and I had planned to go see Stonehenge. We both had the day off and made the decision morning-of but hadn't bothered to check the train schedule. We arrived at Victoria Station only to find out that a 3 p.m. departure meant we would miss the opening hours and therefore miss seeing the Wonder of the World.

We took the tube, instead, to Hampstead Heath and almost immediately I felt lucky we had missed our train. (And yes, I am just saying this because I never made it to Stonehenge and therefore can't compare it to a city park.)

The area around Hampstead Heath is known for its insane real estate - absurd even for London. Houses in the area will go for £20 million and has been home to such hot shots as Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor.

The Heath is a gorgeous hilly park that spans nearly 800 acres and seems impossibly green to be so close to one of the world's great cities. The park has three ponds for bathing - one for women, one for men and one for both sexes (scandalous!) Although it was a rare sunny day that summer, I have never felt inclined to swim in water shared with ducks and other fowl.

After reading under the trees for a while, we wandered up to Parliament Hill, famous for its sprawling view of the city. London seemed so flat at times that it was a wonder you could get high enough to have such a lookout (unless you wanted to pay the 15 pounds at Tower Bridge). It seemed like the perfect setting for a romantic comedy flick, you know the ones where the guy sits on a park bench and his pregnant wife lies in his lap while well-dressed children frolic in the background? THIS was it. Kids were running around with kites as dogs chased butterflies and couples canoodled on benches. You could see St. Paul's, the London Eye, and my favourite - the pickle-shaped Gherkin.

Sure, there were no standing stones from 2500 BC but I'll bet you one tube ticket to Zone 2 that Stonehenge couldn't give you view of London like this one.