I asked ChatGPT to suggest 10 sights worth seeing in Cockfosters.
It did a decent job.
[click for full list]
It continued.
If you like, I can put together a walking route that hits these 10 sights — do you want me to do that?
This time it did a poor job.
It continued.
If you want, I can map this as a simplified drawn map.
This time it did an appalling job.
I confess I laughed.
Even if you've never been to Cockfosters I hope you'll recognise that the map looks nothing whatsoever like real life. One number placed twice, two numbers missing, every location misnumbered, two innovative spellings, one fictional placename, insufficient parkland, fundamental geographical inaccuracy and nothing you could follow in real life.
It pleaded guilty.
I can draw simplified, stylised, schematic or illustrative maps...
...but not geographically accurate, to-scale, or fully faithful real-world maps.
Admittedly this is only entry-level free AI, but it cannot model real life.
Lists are easy, itineraries are much harder and spatially correct is impossible.
If you want, I can create a clean schematic map that actually shows all 10 numbered places on the map itself, not just in the key.
And it was still absolutely rubbish.
But I went and walked it anyway.
Cockfosters 10-Sights Walking Route (about 4–5 miles / 6–8 km)
1. Cockfosters Station – Begin at the Grade II–listed modernist station.
A fine start, an accessible transport node with architectural finesse.
Walk 2 minutes north along Cockfosters Road. 2. Cockfosters Water Tower – Visible right from the road; walk past it heading toward Trent Park.
The water tower is 10 minutes north, not two, and you can't see it from anywhere along the main road because of trees. What is 2 minutes up the road is Trent Park Cemetery, which was included in the original list of sights but for some reason was never included in the walk.
Continue up Cockfosters Road, then turn right into Trent Park.
I had lots of fun here watching angry beeping drivers trying to pass through the entry gates, which are single carriageway only. Blimey they were furious with one another. Things weren't helped yesterday by the park hosting a North West London League children's athletics fixture, so there were parents, coaches, flags, tents and mud-splattered boots everywhere. Cross country indeed.
3. Trent Park Mansion (Trent Park House) – Follow the main estate path to the mansion. 4. Statues & Memorials (Venus statue / obelisk area) – Explore the immediate grounds around the mansion. 5. The Orangery – A short walk from the main house along the garden paths.
The problem here is that the mansion is being converted into 14 Luxury Apartments and is thus off-limits, shielded within a building site. I could see the unscaffolded end but not the statue of Venus out front. The Orangery is outside the construction perimeter but mostly shielded, its interior now used by residents as a gym, and my word the service charge here must be massive.
Continue deeper into Trent Park. 6. Trent Park Lake – Walk the circular lake path for scenery and wildlife.
I skipped walking down into the valley to circumnavigate the ornamental lake because that would have been an extra mile, but I did take a good look from the top of the back lawn. I also skipped the long hike up the hillside to see the obelisk up close, pretending that ChatGPT meant the pyramid by the car park instead.
Exit Trent Park southward toward Chalk Lane. 7. Cockfosters War Memorial – Located where Chalk Lane meets Cockfosters Road.
Chalk Lane is west of Trent Park, not south, but why would ChatGPT know that.
A security guard in a yellow car gave me a very suspicious looking wave as I headed out of the luxury housing enclave. I had to retrace my steps all the way back past the junior joggers before waiting for a gap in the traffic on Cockfosters Road. Only two wreaths remain on the war memorial. I'm surprised the walk failed to mention The Cock Inn which is definitely one of the old village's finer sights, but not surprised it omitted Cockfosters Reserves Premier Division home game against Buntingford.
Walk west toward Belmont Ave.
No, this time it is south rather than west.
8. Belmont Open Space – Small natural green area ideal for a breather.
I'm wholly unconvinced the extra ¾ mile to get here was worth the effort, merely to reach a small wedge of woody grass used mainly as a cut-through, although there was a great panorama across north London from the top of Mount Pleasant.
Head southwest along local streets toward East Barnet Road. 9. Oak Hill Park – Enter the park and follow Pymmes Brook. 10. Oak Hill Wood – At the far end of the park lies the nature-reserve woodland; loop through or walk the perimeter path.
It all got very inefficient here, not to mention suspiciously far beyond the outskirts of Cockfosters. I did walk to the Park and the Wood but not in that order, and it would have been much better if the walk had instead looped back to Cockfosters' hospitality-tastic high street.
Finish the walk at East Barnet Village or loop back to Cockfosters Station via bus (307 or 384).
Oh dear no. The 307 doesn't go to Cockfosters station and the 384 goes nowhere near Oak Hill Park or East Barnet Village.
Overall these were disastrous directions, certainly not "simple, realistic walking route (no external data needed)." But I had an interesting exploratory time all the same, mainly because Trent Park is lovely and Cockfosters has intriguing environs.
As a QMU professor said last week, "We know AI systems make up answers to please us - and that's a problem."
Lists maybe, itineraries not really, and a nice walk round Cockfosters as yet definitely not.
