I've long been intrigued by this patch of green on the North East London bus map.
Tylers Common is a large open space in the nomansland beyond Harold Wood, not quite in Essex, and best reached by TfL's least frequent bus. Wikipedia wasn't terribly helpful - this is the entire entry.
So yesterday I checked the timetable carefully, hopped on the 347 and alighted at Pages Lane to see what Tylers Common was like. And it's lovely.
It's the last substantial area of common land in Havering, having been successfully defended from an agricultural fate in the early 1950s. Initially you wouldn't know it was there because the common is shielded from the road behind a thick treeline with only a couple of gaps for footpaths. Step through and you enter a realm of rich grassland, the thick stalky kind, across an extensive hump of gently rising slope. Technically you're free to roam anywhere but realistically you'll need to follow one of the many threaded paths - some broad and mown, others simply trodden down - providing multiple options for a wander. Half an hour should cover it.
The common is alive with birds and butterflies, oak and thorn, bees and brambles. It's still mostly green despite the paucity of rain, with splashes of midsummer pink from knapweed and patches of rosebay willowherb. One of the most common flowers is the birds-foot trefoil, which dazzles in tiny yellow bundles underfoot. Hunt carefully and you may find one of the shady ponds, but otherwise it's coarse grassland all the way. The Thames Chase Community Forest website suggests I may also have seen agrimony, creeping bents, sneezewort and dwarf gorse because they're knowledgeable like that.
The land rises to a rounded summit with views to remember. The central London skyline is clearly visible beyond a line of pylons in separate City and Docklands clusters. On the opposite flank the M25 carves through at the foot of the hill, its traffic loud enough to be a constant presence but not overly intrusive. Elsewhere the Green Belt has worked its magic and left a rolling rural landscape dotted with a few houses rather than acres of bungalowed avenues, with Brentwood and Upminster conveniently hidden.
Best keep away from the farm on the northern perimeter, they prefer it that way, and respectfully request that you stick to the public right of way if exploring the footpaths beyond the common. In fact the common has plenty of space for everyone, which I guessed was usually no-one given the paucity of settlement hereabouts, although I did unexpectedly bump into one jogger and a pair of dogwalkers. It turns out there is a car park on the west side of the common, accessed up a lane with no footpath, it's only those using public transport who are unlikely ever to make it here. Best time your bus ride right.
