Welcome

Morning, Finchley!

The summer holidays are in full swing, and this week brings the news many of us have waited 25 years for: a plan to bring College Farm back to life.

Add open-air theatre, top marks for Barnet's schools, and a wartime house of secrets.

Enjoy the read.

🐄 Moo-ving Forward: College Farm's Long-Awaited Comeback

For 25 years, Finchley's best-loved little farm has been shut behind its gates, its cattle a distant memory for anyone who moved to the area this century. That may finally be about to change.

College Farm Trust, the charity that owns the much-loved landmark on Fitzalan Road, has announced a long-term partnership with the Jeremy Coller Foundation, with the aim of refurbishing, rebuilding and reopening the site to the public. It is the most hopeful news the farm has had in a generation.

A quick reminder of why it matters. Opened in the 1880s as London's leading model dairy farm, College Farm produced the country's first bottled milk in 1884 and drew thousands of families to its open days for decades. But its Grade II listed buildings have fallen into serious disrepair, some containing asbestos, and the cost of putting them right is substantial.

That is where the new team comes in. A fresh board of local trustees, appointed last year and including former Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer and Finchley Society chairman Mick Crick, went looking for a partner who shared their vision. They found one in the Jeremy Coller Foundation, a major charity focused on the future of food and the principal backer of the Science Museum's Future of Food exhibition.

Tenant farmers Chris and Jane Ower, who have cared for the farm and its animals for almost 50 years, are supportive of the plans. Subject to the usual planning and regulatory approvals, the ambition is simple and lovely: to welcome families and school children back through the gates to meet the animals once again.

We will keep you posted as the plans take shape.

Here is hoping the cows come home. 🐄

Events

ARTS

Saturday 1st August

​Art in the Park - Free Life Drawing presented by Wembley Park | Sat, Aug. 1 | 10:00 am | Elvin Gardens, Wembley Park, HA9 8TS | Free | Join everyone in Wembley Park for a chill morning of free life drawing with artist Laxmi Hussain. No experience needed, just your creativity.

COMMUNITY

Sunday 2nd August

​Church Walk | Sun, Aug. 2 | 26 Hendon Lane, N3 1TR | Free | The next walk takes place after the Sunday service at church on Sunday 2nd August. It will be a local walk starting from the church. If you are interested, please email walking.group@stmaryatfinchley.org.uk.​

KIDS

Tuesday 28th July

​Shake and Make Tambourine Workshop at Edgware Library | Tue, Jul. 28 | 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm | Edgware Library, Hale Lane, HA8 8NN | Free | Craft, decorate and shake your own tambourine. After creating their masterpiece, children learn simple beats and play along to favourite songs from Freegal Music.

NATURE

Sunday 2nd August

​LNHS Floral Foray | Sun, Aug. 2 | 10:30 am to 3:00 pm | Whitestone Pond, NW3 | Free | Fancy going into more depth about nature on Hampstead Heath? The London Natural History Society runs free, detailed ecological surveys and nature walks across the Heath.

OLDER PEOPLE

Monday 3rd August

​Talks: Getting to Grips with Your Tech - Parking Apps | Mon, Aug. 3 | 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm | Ann Owens Centre, Oak Lane, East Finchley, N2 8LT | Free | A useful talk as part of Age UK Barnet's free weekly digital support sessions, this time getting to grips with new parking payment technology. Contact Howard Chapman on 0208 432 1415.

SPORTS

Monday 27th July

​Summer in the Square Games | Mon, Jul. 27 | 10:00 am to 5:00 pm | 145 Claremont Road, NW2 1FE | Free | Gather your team (or your competition!) and spend a sunny day in Neighbourhood Square playing classic summer lawn games, all free. Try Quoits ring toss, Beanbag Toss and Urban Bocce bowls.

Monday 3rd August

​Holiday Camp 2026 - Hampstead | Mon, Aug. 3 | 10:00 am to 1:00 pm | 65-67 Hampstead Way, NW11 7LE | Free for state schools | Capital Kids Cricket comes to Hampstead Heath! Join CKC's Summer Holiday Camp at the Parliament Hill cricket pitch for weeks of cricket, friendship-making and skill-building.

SUSTAINABILITY

Thursday 30th July

​Sewing 101 Workshop - Re-style Your Old Saree at Edgware Library | Thu, Jul. 30 | 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm | Edgware Library, Hale Lane, HA8 8NN | Free | Learn the basics of sewing while giving new life to your old sarees. Create a beautiful scarf or a simple skirt in this beginner-friendly session.

Sunday 2nd August

​Monthly River Clean up - Clitterhouse Secret River Sweepers (SRS) | Sun, Aug. 2 | 11:30 am to 3:00 pm | Clitterhouse Playing Fields, NW2 1AP | Free | Join the monthly community river clean-up day. Litter does not belong in our river, and together we can change that. A two-hour-ish clean-up, with coffee, tea and cake after in the cafe.

THEATRE

Sunday 2nd August

​Oakhill Golf | Sun, Aug. 2 | 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm | Oak Hill Park, East Barnet, EN4 8JP | £16.50 | Join Peter and his naughty cousin Benjamin at Oakhill on their hair-raising adventures in Quantum Theatre's delightful open-air adaptation of Beatrix Potter's much-loved tales.

Events - Book Ahead

Monday 10th August

​Animation Summer Camps at Sparks Film School Highgate | Mon, Aug. 10 | 9:00 am to 3:00 pm | Sparks Film School, Storey Road, North Hill, N6 4ED | £395 | Make your own animated movie this summer. Take part in the Sparks Film School Summer Shoots, action-packed animation camps for young creatives.

Tuesday 1st September

​Garden Teddy Bear Hunt | Tue, Sep. 1 | 11:00 am to 2:00 pm | Stephens House & Gardens, N3 3QE | £5 | The gardens are being visited by some friendly bears, and they need your help to find them. Spotters of all ages welcome, so come along and why not bring your own bear?

Saturday 19th September

​Walk for Wards - Enfield, September 2026 | Sat, Sep. 19 | 10:00 am | 331 Cockfosters Rd, Barnet, EN4 0JY | £15 | Walk for Wards is a celebration of the Royal Free London community, with staff, patients, families, volunteers and supporters coming together to support exceptional care.

Local Lowdown

Celebrating

• Barnet has lost a remarkable champion. Aubrey Rose CBE, proud president of the Barnet Society, has died aged 99, and friends are celebrating a gentle, wise life. A pioneering solicitor and the first Jewish Commissioner for Racial Equality, he helped save The Bull as a community resource.

Reviving

• Burnt Oak's beloved green space just earned its stripes. Watling Park has won a coveted Green Flag award after a £1.5m makeover, with new play and workout areas plus a rerouted brook that now feeds a scenic wetland instead of flooding nearby homes.

Topping

• Barnet's classrooms are top of the class again. In 2025-26 Ofsted inspections, 68 percent of judgement areas were rated strong or exceptional, against a national average of 27 percent, and every on-time applicant landed a secondary place for the fourth year running.

Eavesdropping

• A decade-long campaign has cracked open Trent Park's wartime secrets. The House of Secrets museum has now opened in the mansion where secret listeners, many German-speaking Jewish refugees, bugged captured Nazi generals to gather crucial intelligence. On the Enfield-Barnet border, it is open to visitors now.

Discovering

• North-west London has a magical garden hiding in plain sight. Cricklewood's Mapesbury Dell, a pond-dotted haven tucked behind a row of houses, has just won Green Flag status, one of two Brent parks newly honoured. Bring the kids, or simply sit and listen to the birds.

Finchleyite: Long Lane Pasture

This week's Finchleyite is a small triumph of people power: Long Lane Pasture, a nature reserve wedged beside the North Circular in N3.

Saved from development by local campaigners, its two and a bit acres of meadow, ponds and brambles are now a free wildlife haven, home to foxes, plenty of birdlife and no fewer than 18 kinds of butterfly, all a stone's throw from the traffic.

It is owned by Barnet Council but run entirely by volunteers, so opening hours depend on who can spare the time to unlock the gate, which is part of its charm.

Pop in when the gate is open, follow the paths and let the city fade for a while.

Proof that a few determined neighbours can keep a wild corner of Finchley alive.

Editors' Note - From Tessa

Enjoyed celebrating my niece's 7th birthday this week.

Nothing quite like getting together with the family for some singing and cake.

We had a very happy 7-year-old.

Also, let us know about local events or local news. We curate our content to keep it a 5-minute read, so can't include everything we're sent.

You can now get a guaranteed (paid) listing for local events or local lowdown/news items.

​And email us with any projects or ideas you'd like us to write about.

Tessa Davis Sasha Frieze