Chingford hotels

Hotels in Chingford

Once in Essex, and now part of London, Chingford is within easy reach of plenty of attractive green spaces, including Epping Forest. Book one of our Chingford hotels and you'll be in the capital, and in the countryside too.

Sports and leisure

Chingford Golf Course is the oldest course in Essex, dating back to 1886. The club is for men only – but Chingford Ladies' Golf Club plays on the same course. Close by you'll also find Chigwell Golf Club, Hainault Forest Golf Club and West Essex Golf Club.

Chingford also has a health club with a pool, sauna, steam room, gym and spa pool, and a leisure centre with another gym, a pool and kids' pool.

The town's annual music festival, the Chingford Big Weekender, is held every August, and has featured stars including Sister Sledge, Soul to Soul and Billy Ocean, as well as local acts.

History

Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, built for Henry VIII in Epping Forest in 1543 as a place to watch deer hunts, is now a museum about Tudor times. You can explore a Tudor kitchen and learn about what the Tudors ate, try on Tudor clothes and learn how the lodge was built. The second floor also has impressive views of the forest. Entry is free and the museum is open seven days a week.

Chingford town centre is home to the 13th-century All Saints' Church, which fell into such disrepair in Victorian times that it was abandoned for almost a century. It was restored in 1930.

Waltham Abbey Gardens

Founded by King Henry II in 1177, Waltham Abbey was once one of the largest Augustine abbeys in England, and the last to be dissolved. Now, little of the building itself remains, but the flower gardens are a lovely place to visit. In Cornmill Meadows you'll find an abundance of dragonflies and damselflies – more than half the UK's species are found here – as well as a hide where you can watch the birds. Look out for waders, ruffs, black-tailed godwits, redshanks, common sandpipers, garden sandpipers, wigeons, lapwings, golden plovers, teal and kingfishers.

Epping Forest

Internationally renowned for its ancient trees and its population of fallow deer, the 6, 000-acre Epping Forest is a popular place to go walking, cycling, horse riding, boating or fishing. Most of the forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and its deer sanctuary is home to a rare herd of black fallow deer. Other wildlife you might spot includes muntjac deer, slowworms, great crested newts, bats, green woodpeckers, buzzards, kestrels, and red kites.

Eating and drinking

Italian restaurants abound in Chingford – their number includes Ibleo, La Baita, Mamma Mia Cucina and L'Artista. Or, head to table 7 for fine dining, or Patpong Thai or Chong's, for Asian cuisine. Real ales and real ciders are served at the Station House, close to Epping Forest - there's also a garden, a DJ on Friday and Saturdays and a quiz on Thursdays. Enjoy nibbles, sharing plates and cocktails at Bar One Twenty, whose logo and selection of vintage radios is a homage to the premises' previous incarnation as a television repair shop.