Space to Visit

The Gardens are a green oasis in suburban London providing a mixed landscape and including a unique arboretum (with rare trees including one of the largest Hungarian oaks in Britain), a rockery, a bog garden, large park areas to play in and wooded areas to walk. The Grade II listed house, and the gardens (designed by Robert Marnock) were originally owned by Henry ‘Inky’ Stephens of Stephens Ink fame. An area within the Gardens, the Bothy (with castellated walls that are an early example of the use of reinforced concrete) constructed between 1878 and 1882, was conceived to allow the whole estate to be self-sufficient and to develop and explore new ideas in farming. The gardens have evolved over time and today include seasonal planting in a variety of beds. A team of dedicated volunteers now maintain the garden and carry out ongoing restoration under the direction of the Avenue House Estate Trust. The garden also contains a statue of Spike Milligan sitting on a bench encouraging a ‘Conversation with Spike’ which was installed by The Finchley Society of which Spike was president.