The warden and the bird group open the site for four free guided walks. Places must be booked, all are 18 plus, and two tours cover the pending planning bid.
Beddington Farmlands is opening for four free guided walks this month, three of them on one Saturday. The Farmlands Warden leads two and the Beddington Farmlands Bird Group leads two.
Every walk is free. Every walk has to be booked, through the council’s own events and bookings site. All four are 18 and over only.
The four walks
- Birds of Beddington 1, Saturday 12 September, 7am to 9am. A bird group walk across the site listening for the first signs of autumn migration.
- Birds of Beddington 2, Saturday 12 September, 10am to 12pm. The same walk again, three hours later.
- Restoration of Beddington Farmlands, Saturday 12 September, 11am to 12.30pm. The warden on what the old landfill is being turned into.
- Restoration of Beddington Farmlands, Wednesday 23 September, 10am to 11.30am. The same tour, on a weekday morning.
The 10am bird walk and the 11am restoration walk overlap, so you cannot do both on the Saturday. Booking on each event closes on the day it runs.
The tour that covers the planning row
The restoration walks are not a general nature ramble. The council’s listing says the warden will “discuss the current condition, the agreed conservation scheme and the status of the pending planning application”, and will point out the target species that the restoration is being judged against.
That pending application is DM2024/00199, from Valencia Waste (Thames) Ltd. It asks the council to accept that 12.6 hectares of acid grassland and lowland heath promised in the approved restoration plan will be replaced with species-rich meadow. Sixty-one of the 65 comments on it objected. We set out what is in it, and the £2.33 million security question behind it, in our report on the committee meeting.
Sutton’s planning committee heard the application on Wednesday 2 September. As of Saturday 5 September the register still records its status as “Pending Consideration”, no decision notice has been published, and the minutes of that meeting are not yet on the council’s committee page. So anyone on the 12 September walk will be hearing about it earlier than the paperwork.
Most of the site is normally off limits
This is the part that makes a booked walk worth the early alarm. The Bird Group’s own visitor page sets out what the public can reach on an ordinary day:
- access is restricted to the permissive footpath on the west side of the reserve, running from Beddington Park in the south to Mitcham Common in the north
- that path is open 24 hours a day, all year, except for one day a year when it shuts
- there are three public hides along it, looking over the Phase 1 wet grassland, the North Lake, and the South Lake and reedbed
- the rest of the site is currently restricted to keyholding members of the Beddington Farm Bird Group
The guided walks go across the site rather than along the path, which is the difference.
Where to meet, and what to bring
The meeting point is the same for all four: Mile Road Gate, at the mid point of the permissive path. Mile Road is reached over the bridge from Hackbridge, opposite the Sainsbury’s Locals. The council gives the what3words reference as ///spray.park.spider, and says in capitals not to head for the Beddington Park pavilion.
The rest of the council’s own warning is worth reading before you book:
- the site is a work in progress, and the ground is uneven and broken in places
- sturdy shoes are required, and “pumps, flip flops etc will be turned away”
- there are no facilities on site
- it can get cold at the top, so dress for the weather
- no under 18s
Why this is part of Wandle Fortnight
All four walks are listed under the Wandle Fortnight series. Wandle Fortnight is a community programme of walks, talks, open days and conservation work along the river, coordinated by the Wandle Valley Forum.
The Forum says it has put more than £4,300 into Wandle Grants this year, shared between 20 local organisations. The Sutton names on that list include the Sutton and Wandle Valley Ramblers and the Friends of Poulter Parks and Revesby Woods.
What it means for you
How much of Beddington Farmlands opens to the public, and when, is one of the things the pending application settles. Under the revised scheme in front of the council, only one of six routes, the existing permissive path, would be open all year. A booked walk is the straightforward way to see the rest of the site now.
- Book through the council’s events site. You can book as a guest without a library card.
- Bookings close on the day of each walk, so the 12 September walks close on 12 September.
- The three Saturday walks start at 7am, 10am and 11am. The Wednesday one starts at 10am.
- Everything is free and everything is 18 plus.
- Hackbridge station is the nearest, over the bridge from the Mile Road entrance. The Beddington Lane tram stop serves the far end of the permissive path, by Mitcham Golf Course. Times and fares are on our Sutton trains page.
- If you want to comment on the application itself rather than walk the site, our Sutton planning applications page explains how the register works.
- The same Saturday, the borough’s only Heritage Open Days venue opens in Cheam, and more across the borough is on our things to do in Sutton page.
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