Skip to content

Let's go walkies!

27th January 2025

If you’re a dog-lover, there’s nothing better than a wonderful walk with your furry friend. To celebrate Walk Your Dog Month, Geoff Juden, Chair of the East London Garden Society, shares his favourite

Dog walks are great for dogs and their owners | Sebastian Coman

Regular exercise and outdoor activity is just as important for dogs as it is for us. Getting out into London’s green space does wonders for everyone’s mental and physical health.

When we lived in a small country village, we could walk for hours with Peg, our dog, through woods and fields to the River Rother. In London, more areas are becoming less dog friendly, but along the Great Eastern Parks Route you can all throw caution to the wind and enjoy the pleasure of its natural aspects.

The green link joins numerous parks and gardens across East London, beginning in Shoreditch at the Bishopsgate Goodsyard. It follows a disused railway viaduct to Tower Hamlets and Newham, where the River Lea meets the Thames.

At eight miles, it’s a bit long for a quick stroll but it has so much on offer you can see something different every time. With amazing nature reserves along the route, together with the canals and rivers, there’s plenty to enjoy.

Secret island

We recently took a walk through Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham, starting at what will be the London Highline. From Meath Gardens, we walked through Victoria Park to the River Lea, reaching Three Mills – an iconic working Mill House from the 18th Century.

The Channelsea River is a secret oasis for wildlife

From Three Mills, we continued to the Channelsea (left), where a local community is involved in restoring this lost river. The Channelsea is a hidden tidal creek in East London – one of the Bow Back Rivers, a series of man-made channels dating back to the 12th Century. It was dug to drain the Stratford Marshes, now long gone and buried beneath layers of urban expansion, but today it is a secret island and an oasis for urban wildlife.

We ended our walk in West Ham Park, where we were met by the local community group ensuring the viability of West Ham Park.

Mind-blowing marshes
You can see cormorants at Walthamstow Wetlands

On another walk, we experienced the wonder of the Woodberry Down Reservoir with all its wildlife. We then went to the parks of Springhill and Millfield, all in Hackney, venturing toward the Walthamstow Marshes in Waltham Forest. This is an incredible nature reserve, with plants that only grow there, together with the local cormorants. I think on this walk all of our minds were blown because we couldn’t believe that such a place existed in London.

I am purposefully not informing you of all that one can view for free – I want you to see for yourself. All the nature reserves along the way are in their own right superlative in creating nature habitats, either through plants, animals or their vistas.

There are 9.8 million people living in London, hopefully we can inspire many with these walks we have – especially in East London where a walk can last for over 20 miles.

More dog walks in London

If East London is not your neighbourhood, try these other pooch-friendly places:

Central

  • Hyde Park
  • Regents Park/Primrose Hill

North

  • Lee Valley Regional Park
  • Highgate Wood

South

  • Peckham Rye Park and Common – recommended by GoParksLondon’s Laura Collins: “There’s a large grassy field for dogs to play in, as well as a network of paths with a variety of different elements to explore, like gardens, playgrounds for children, streams and lots of trees. We like to explore the winding paths in the southern half of the park and then get a coffee next to the big open area, where our dog enjoys meeting other dogs.”
  • Battersea Park

West

  • Gunnersbury Park
  • Chiswick Park and Gardens

You can find these and more spots for a walk across the capital at GoParksLondon 

Learn more about the East London Garden Society here

Dog walk in a field