A sprawling North London parkland, composed of oaks, willows and chestnuts, yews and sycamores, the beech and the birch; that encompasses the city’s highest point and spreads far beyond it; that is so well planted it feels unplanned; that is not the country but is no more a garden than Yellowstone; that has a shade of green for every possible felicitation of light; that paints itself in russets and ambers in autumn, canary-yellow in the splashy spring; with tickling bush grass to hide teenage lovers and joint smokers, broad oaks for brave men to kiss against, mown meadows for summer ball games, hills for kites, ponds for hippies, an icy lido for old men with strong constitutions, mean llamas for mean children and, for the tourists, a country house, its façade painted white enough for any Hollywood close-up, complete with a tea room, although anything you buy there should be eaten outside with the grass beneath your toes, sitting under the magnolia tree, letting the white blossoms, blush-pink at their tips, fall all around you. Hampstead Heath! Glory of London! Where Keats walked and Jarman fucked, where Orwell exercised his weakened lungs and Constable never failed to find something holy. Zadie Smith
About This Quote

This quote is a description of the Hampstead Heath, a sprawling North London parkland. This beautiful place is so immensely large that it covers the highest points in the city and spreads far beyond it. The area was formed over thousands of years by natural processes and has been cultivated and developed over the centuries. The Heath is mostly composed of oak, willow, chestnut and sycamore trees and yews and beech and birch trees.

The Heath is not a garden but it does feel like one. The beauty of the Heath is further enhanced by the variety of different greens that cover its surface. The greenery is said to be best at Belmont Hill, which has a thick carpet of grass.

The beauty of the Heath fades as you look towards the suburbs as many areas are full of trash and broken bottles and junkies who live there or have died there.

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