Welcome to the Holly Lodge Estate Website

This site is a resource for all residents, neighbours and visitors to Holly Lodge. We welcome contributions and comments from everybody who is interested in the Estate.

Holly Lodge Estate is a unique community in Highgate, North London. Although it is only four miles from Oxford Circus there is little traffic, so children can play in the streets, and the great collection of local shops and coffee bars contributes to its village atmosphere.

The hillside setting and streets lined with trees and grass make the suburban mock-Tudor architecture bearable. The views over London are stunning and, with Hampstead Heath and Waterlow Park a short walk away, the location is unbeatable.

This site has news, events and details of improvements planned for the Estate. If you want to contribute your views to these plans, make sure you visit the site regularly to keep up to date with the latest proposals.

A special welcome to new residents. Your Welcome Pack contains important information for people moving in; if you haven’t received it already, please contact Dominique Florin the Estate secretary. If your builders are here before you move in, please make sure you read the rules page.

Finally, we need regular contributions to ensure the site is up to date and useful to everybody. Please post your views, news, events, services, reviews and history on the Forum so we can make this a vibrant site that reflects the diversity of Holly Lodge. Email other information and photographs to editor.

Green space

Most remarkable for an inner-London suburb, it has an embarrassment of green space.

In the Estate itself, every avenue is lined with grass verges and trees. It must be one of the few places in London where residents have their own private park - our ornamental gardens at the top of Hillway. Hidden through the Estate are other green spaces that many residents are not even aware of.

Just 5 minutes walk away is Hampstead Heath, one of London’s major open spaces. It can take years to explore its 800 acres, which are creatively managed with some areas used as a family park while others are left as semi-wild grassland and woodland environments for wildlife and walkers.

It is a haven for wildlife such as foxes, bats, kingfishers, reed warblers and all three species of British woodpeckers.

Highlights include...

Kenwood House - home of the summer open-air concerts
A line of lakes - including ladies, gents and mixed swimming ponds
Parliament Hill - with its famous kite flying and fabulous views over London

A few minutes in the opposite direction is Waterlow Park, a smaller and more conventional park with lawns, ponds and formal gardens.

The park has recently been improved and restored. This has seen the creation of a Parks Centre, installation of a new children’s playground, restoration of the terraced gardens and surrounding historic walls, the creation of timber boardwalks and viewing platforms at two of the ponds.

Lauderdale House at the edge of the park is used as a tea room and for functions and arts events including shows for young children.

Just south of the park is Highgate Cemetery, a fascinating melange of overgrown tombstones and monuments. The old cemetery is beautifully decrepit and can only be visited on an accompanied tour – well worth a visit to see the Circle of Lebanon and Egyptian Avenue. The new cemetery is nearly as eccentric and is open to the public; no one spot stands out but many visitors head for Karl Marx’s grave.

Transport

Congestion and competition from improving public transport are making cars increasingly useless in London, but at least you can usually park outside your house or flat.

Several companies are now offering instant rental, where you just book your car over the Internet, walk to the car and drive it away for under £5 per hour.

Busses are frequent, with the 214 and C2 running 24/7 (see Map)...

The 214 goes North to Highgate Village and South to Kentish Town, Camden Town Station, Kings Cross, Islington, Moorgate and Liverpool Street
The C2 also goes to Kentish and Camden Town and then on to Oxford Circus
The C11 goes to East Archway and West to Royal Free Hospital, Swiss Cottage, Finchely Road (O2 Centre) and, eventually, Brent Cross

London Overground (see Map) has taken over the train from Gospel Oak and is improving the service, with most journeys costing £1. It gives access to places that are otherwise hard to reach, including Richmond, Kew, Shepherds Bush, Clapham, Highbury, Stratford and Barking.

Thameslink Trains from Kentish Town go North to Luton and South to Kings Cross Thameslink, Blackfriars, Wimbledon and Sutton.

Paris and Brussels are now just two stops away … jump on the 214 to St Pancras International and you are just one minute from Eurostar.

Finally, the Northern Line from Kentish Town is crowded and unpleasant.

Buyers’ guide

Houses on the Estate sell quickly so, if you want to buy, make friends with your estate agent! Only five houses were sold in 2007 for an average price of £1.53m. As a basic guide, smaller unmodernised houses sell for £1m rising to £1.5m for larger or modernised houses and over £2m for houses near the top of Hillway or in Robin Grove.

20 flats sold in 2007 for an average of £253,000. Expect to pay at least £170,000 for a bedsit rising to over £500,000 for a larger flat in a good location.

There are several properties for rent, perhaps because owners believe they are undervalued compared with others in Highgate and are reluctant to sell. A one bedroom flat starts at £270 per week with houses going for between £1,000 and £1,500 per week.

A typical house is in band G making the Council Tax £2,219. Camden is a fairly well run council and they spend the money more wisely than they did a few years ago (although there are specific criticisms elsewhere on this site!)

Each household pays around £500 per year into a Maintenance Fund; Camden match this contribution on behalf of tenants and leaseholders of the flats. The money is spent on looking after and improving the common parts - mowing grass, managing trees, collecting litter, maintaining the ornamental gardens, repairing roads, paths, steps and gates etc.

I would like to include guidance on energy performance band of Estate properties and would be grateful if somebody could lend me a home information pack.

Families

The Estate attracts many families because the lack of through traffic means that children can play in the street. It is simply a great place for children and teenagers.

There is a strong community and occasional events such as street parties mean that families get to know each other well. Children spend much of their time at each others’ houses.

Activities for children abound: music, sport, theatre, dance, shows … pretty much anything you could want within a couple of miles.

There are equally many activities for adults. I will only mention some within walking distance…

The Highgate Society is a vibrant local organisation with a simple aim: to make Highgate a better place to live and work
The Literary & Scientific Institution aims to be the cultural heart of Highgate with its huge variety of events, courses, lecture and groups
The Gate House is home to London’s top theatre (as measured by feet above sea level)
The Highgate Choral Society is a very active and respected amateur group
The Estate community centre has a variety of social events, trips and courses
Local sports facilities include tennis, bowls, open air swimming (pool or pond) jogging on the heath or running track and, sometimes in the winter, an ice rink
If all that seems too exhausting, the most popular local pastime is sitting outside one of the many local cafés chatting

Education

Parents can choose between a variety of outstanding schools within walking distance of the Estate.

There is a playgroup on the Estate and the excellent York Rise Nursery nearby.

Two local state primary schools, Brookfield and St Michael’s, both have good reputations. Ofsted starts it report with the highly unusual: “St Michael’s school provides its pupils with an outstanding quality of education”.

Four nearby state secondary schools William Ellis (boys), Parliament Hill (girls), La Santa Union (catholic girls) and Acland Burghley (mixed) are all rated by Ofsted as “good” or “very good”; they join to form La SWAP sixth form college.

Two public schools, Highgate (mixed) and Channing (girls) are great if you can pass the entry exams (and afford the fees).

It is easy to see why many residents of nearby Islington send their children to Camden schools.

Shops

One reason Holly Lodge retains its village atmosphere is the excellent range of local shops.

Swains Lane luckily still has pretty much everything you need for day to day shopping (butcher, greengrocer, chemist, grocer, wine merchant, hardware store, newsagent and florist) as well as the inevitable Tesco Local. Baba has a wonderful range of unique curios.

Services include a choice of hairdressers and estate agents as well as a hand car wash.

For such a small community, there is an amazing variety of cafés: Mozart, Kalendar, Paridisso, Mes Amis, Al Parco and San Siro as well as the sandwich bar and the pub. Somehow they all seem to be full, especially sitting outside on a summer afternoon.

It is great to be able to walk to such a variety of shops where you inevitably bump into friends and neighbours. And great that they are nearly all still family run businesses.