Another and shorter way to Child’s Hill is by the footpath at New West End, which, crossing diagonally a hillside field, takes through two others, in the last of which in line, but at a distance from each other, are three trees—an elm, lime, and horse-chestnut—remarkable in summer time for their richness of foliage and fine shape. At the end of this field (to the left of which is a pretty house of modest dimensions, and on the right in a hollow a barn) there is an opening into Platt’s Lane, which takes its name from a former owner of Child’s Hill House, Thomas Platt, Esq., which house subsequent to 1811, when he resided at Upper Terrace, he altered and enlarged. Brewer gives an engraving of it in his ‘Beauties of England and Wales,’ 1813, and describes it as an unostentatious brick building, with a cottage roof, and though it has been raised a story by its recent proprietor, Joseph Hoare, Esq.,[110] it is perfectly recognisable in the engraving. The ground to the east of Platt’s Lane preserves the pastoral character it must have had two centuries ago, and which induced the trustees of the Campden Charity to invest their trust in the purchase of ‘fourteen acres of meadow land at Child’s Hill for the benefit of the poor at Hampstead.’ [Illustration: _Leg of Mutton Pond._] At the top of Platt’s Lane, where the road is crossed by Child’s Hill Lane, is a bit of waste, an unclaimed angle, where the turf grows green or sunburnt with the seasons, and which in bygone years was seldom without the ‘burnt spot’ which marks the camping-place of gipsies. Now the trees are scant about it, and the gipsies rarely seen, though till 1825-30 Hampstead Heath was seldom without some stragglers of the tawny tribe. Walking on, we pass the back of the premises of Child’s Hill House,[111] which, standing some 300 feet above the level of the Thames, commands charming and extensive views, and is surrounded by several acres of pleasure-ground and gardens. A short distance further on we enter the West Heath Road, and can either follow it to its junction with the Broad Walk, or cross the sandy margin of the Heath in any direction we please. There is a way by the bottom of Leg of Mutton Pond, or, if we prefer it, we can strike into a path higher up than the boggy ground which occupies a wide space on either side of the watercourse running into it. From the higher ground the views are delightful, and there are seats scattered here and there in the most eligible places for enjoying them. Upon the brow of the Heath, North End Hill as it is called, some of the houses in the North End Road are seen now to be facing us. There lies Cedar Lawn and the wooded grounds of Hill House, fraternally looking towards Child’s Hill; in 1856 the residence of another member of the Hoare family; and pushing out a recently-erected wall many feet beyond its original enclosure is Heath Lodge, of which there is a story to tell.