Searching for the best brunch Woodberry Down has to offer? Your hunt ends at Dear Diana. Set within a bright, contemporary space in one of North London's newest developments, our venue has quickly become the favourite brunch spot for locals and visitors alike. Moreover, we've crafted an experience that goes far beyond simply serving food on plates. Whether you're a weekend warrior seeking the perfect eggs Benedict or a midweek treat-yourself enthusiast, Dear Diana delivers. Here are five compelling reasons why discerning brunch lovers consistently choose us.
There is a Victorian reservoir five minutes from our front door that nobody could visit for two hundred years. It is now a nature reserve with kingfishers in it, and most people who live twenty minutes away have still never been.
This is a guide to Woodberry Wetlands: what it is, how to visit, what to look for, and what to do with the rest of your morning.
What Woodberry Wetlands Actually Is
The site began life in 1833 as Stoke Newington East Reservoir, built to hold water arriving down the New River. Its banks were lined with stone taken from the old London Bridge as that bridge was being demolished, which is the kind of detail that makes a walk around it more interesting than it has any right to be.
The New River itself is older still. James I authorised it in 1604 to carry clean spring water from Hertfordshire down into London, and it is neither new nor a river. It is a four hundred year old aqueduct that still works.
The reservoir stayed closed to the public for roughly two centuries. That changed on 1 May 2016, when Sir David Attenborough opened it as a nature reserve. Thames Water owns the site, London Wildlife Trust manages it, and it came about through work with Berkeley Homes, Hackney Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
It covers about eleven acres. Small, by the standards of a day out. Large, for something that sits inside Zone 2 with a tube station down the road.
Visiting: Hours, Entry and Getting There
Entry is free. There is no booking and no ticket.
Opening hours change with the season. From April to September the reserve is open 9.30am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.30pm. From October to March it closes earlier, 9.30am to 4pm with last entry at 3.30pm. Hours do get adjusted, so it is worth checking the London Wildlife Trust page on the morning you go.
The main entrance is off the New River Path at the Woodberry Grove end, N16 5HQ. From Manor House station it is about 13 minutes on foot, 0.6 miles, and flat the whole way. Finsbury Park is further out and better reached by bus or by going one stop on the Piccadilly line.
Accessibility. Access into the reserve is level, and the main path is wheelchair accessible with no steep gradients. There are benches with back support along the way. This is one of the more genuinely accessible green spaces in this part of London, which is worth saying plainly because so few listings bother to.
Dogs. Assistance dogs only. The reserve is a breeding site for ground-nesting and reed-nesting birds, so this one is not negotiable. If you are walking a dog, Finsbury Park is the better plan.
The Walk Itself
The route is a loop around the water, and it is short. An unhurried circuit takes well under an hour, and you can stretch it considerably by stopping, which is rather the point.
What you are walking through is reedbed, grassland and hedgerow. The reedbeds are the reason the reserve exists in the form it does. They were expanded deliberately to give reed warblers and reed buntings somewhere to breed, and to give bitterns somewhere to spend the winter.
Go slowly at the water's edge. Most of what is worth seeing here does not announce itself.
What to Look For
The bird list is better than the size of the place suggests.
On the water: pochard, shoveler, gadwall and tufted duck, with grebes diving and grey herons standing very still at the margins.
In the reeds: reed warblers and reed buntings through the breeding season. Bitterns overwinter here, which is a genuine rarity for inner London, and seeing one is a matter of patience and luck in roughly equal measure.
The one everyone wants: kingfishers. Low, fast, and usually gone before your brain has finished processing the colour.
Not birds: bats at dusk, foxes, newts, frogs and toads, and in summer the dragonflies and damselflies working the edges of the water.
When to Go
Early morning is the best answer to almost every version of this question. The birds are active, the light is on the water, and the paths are quiet.
By season: spring brings the breeding birds and the reeds coming back; summer is for dragonflies and the reedbeds at full height; autumn thins the cover and makes the water easier to watch; winter is the bittern season and the emptiest, which some people prefer.
Weekday mornings are noticeably quieter than weekends. In winter the reserve closes at 4pm, so an afternoon visit needs planning around the light rather than the clock.
Making a Morning of It
The reserve on its own is an hour. Combined with what is around it, it is a decent half day.
The New River Path runs alongside the wetlands and carries on south, and it is a far better walking route than the main road in either direction. The Coal House Café sits inside the reserve itself, run as part of the site, and is the obvious stop if you want to stay within the gates.
Finsbury Park is about twenty minutes away on foot, which makes a longer circuit possible for anyone with a morning to spend.
Where to Eat Afterwards
We are Dear Diana, and we are eight minutes from the reserve gate at 149 Woodberry Grove. One of the walking routes between us runs along the New River Path, which is a pleasant way to finish.
Our brunch menu runs all day rather than stopping at midday, which suits a walk that overran. A Full English is £16 after a cold morning by the water. The Shakshuka is the winter answer, and the Signature Baklava Pancake at £16 is the one most tables share. Every coffee starts with Allpress beans, roasted in London.
We take no bookings, so there is nothing to arrange in advance. Turning up is the whole system. Directions and current hours are on our visit us page, and the full food list is on our menu page.
If you want a sense of the room before you commit to the walk, our guide to slow mornings covers it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Woodberry Wetlands free to visit?
Yes. Entry is free and no booking is needed.
What are the opening times at Woodberry Wetlands?
April to September, 9.30am to 5pm with last entry at 4.30pm. October to March, 9.30am to 4pm with last entry at 3.30pm. Check the London Wildlife Trust page before you travel, since hours are occasionally adjusted.
Can you take dogs to Woodberry Wetlands?
Assistance dogs only. The reserve protects nesting birds, so other dogs are not permitted anywhere on site.
How long does it take to walk around Woodberry Wetlands?
The loop takes well under an hour at an unhurried pace, longer if you stop to watch the water, which is the best way to do it.
Is Woodberry Wetlands wheelchair accessible?
Access into the reserve is level and the main path is wheelchair accessible with no steep gradients. There are benches with back support along the route.
What is the nearest station to Woodberry Wetlands?
Manor House on the Piccadilly line, about 13 minutes on foot and flat the whole way. Finsbury Park is further and better reached by bus or by going one stop on the tube.
Where can you eat near Woodberry Wetlands?
The Coal House Café sits inside the reserve. Dear Diana is eight minutes away at 149 Woodberry Grove, serving all day brunch and Allpress coffee, with no bookings taken.
