Near Hatch End, Harrow – 6/10

From an aesthetic point of view this stile is certainly blending in with its surroundings, both due to nature trying to take over (and the landowner inevitably and somewhat conveniently waving the white flag – which I do not believe to be the exact nature of their legal covenants!) and the overall structure being perfectly in sync with the structure of the main boundary fence. Though as nice and green and ‘blended in’ as this stile may look, there is a menagerie of plants covered in nettles and thorns willing to inflict harm on any innocent hiker who happens to have exposed legs just for the very understandable reason of it being a hot day.

I would of course prefer to avoid courting controversy by even suggesting that letting these natural hazards take over this stile was an intentional act of egregious bitterness by the landowner – that is just so obvious anyway that no suggestion is really necessary!

The overall structure of the stile is admittedly very solid and sturdy, while the two steps may well be used in the highly controversial ‘staircase’ design but are both solid and each of them at a decent height in relation to the rest of the structure to make navigation reasonably straightforward – providing your legs are not exposed of course!