Leyton Flats

Leyton Flats, known locally as Hollow Pond, is one of the few places in London where you can stand, look around, and breathe in the vastness of the sky, uninterrupted by concrete and cars. But for a single block of flats, no buildings rise above the treeline. Damon Albarn, who grew up in Leytonstone, wrote the song Hollow Ponds in tribute to idyllic summers he spent here in his childhood (the song also contains a sample of a Central line train leaving Leytonstone Station). You can hire a boat in the summer and mess about on the water. Or just wander with an ice cream from the boathouse among the ancient oaks of the Hollow Forest – the southernmost tip of Epping Forest. Eagle-eyed walkers may even spot a heron’s nest.