Various manor houses seem to have existed throughout the years, which had all been modified or demolished and replaced. Eventually the land was divided and sold off in lots. The outcome of this was that two separate estates were created and two large houses were built side-by-side overlooking the grounds. These both survive. Gunnersbury Park House is the larger of the two and was built in c.1811. The other house, called Gunnersbury House, was built in c.1806. Gunnersbury Park House was purchased by the Rothschild family in 1835 along with its 86 acres. In 1889 the family also acquired Gunnersbury House, and this action meant the estate was re-unified. The family also purchased adjacent pieces of land and increased the estate's size to around 200 acres.
In 1925 the Rothschild family sold the estate to a joint venture of Ealing Borough Council and Acton Borough Council on the condition that the land be used for leisure and recreation. Had the estate been sold to Brentford Local Government District (whose boundary it actually sat it), it is very likely the land would have been used for housing, which was in high demand at the time. In fact a small amount of the total land was used for house building in order to help fund the purchase. In 1926, future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who was Minister of Health at the time, performed the opening ceremony for the brand new Gunnersbury Park.
The park covers 186 acres of land and includes 22 Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings. This includes both of the mansions, an orangery, a number of lodges, archways, walls, gates and lakes. Gunnersbury Park House became the Gunnersbury Park Museum, which covers a number of varied topics, and currently holds 50,000 items in its collection. The park itself is an undulating mix of open fields, woodland and neatly landscaped sections. It features a playground, and a sports hub which includes pitches for football and cricket, as well as tennis courts. Since October 2011 the park has also been home to a free, weekly, timed, 5km event called Gunnersbury parkrun. This is led by volunteers from the local community and is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk the course and to wheelchair users.
When I first visited Gunnersbury Park in May 2013 to take part in Gunnersbury parkrun's 82nd event, I noted in that blog that the park seemed a bit neglected. The paths were in poor condition and the two mansions were in a very bad state of repair. In fact most of the historic buildings and features in the park had been placed on the English Heritage At-Risk register. Fortunately a multi-million pound Heritage Lottery Fund major restoration plan was put in place to undo the many years of neglect. This was completed in 2018. However as of September 2026 ten of the Listed structures are still showing on the At-Risk register, including the small mansion. The restoration of the park is an on-going project with an estimated £35 million required to complete the outstanding works.
The estate is still jointly owned by Hounslow Council and Ealing Council. Its day-to-day management is carried out by a charity called The Gunnersbury Museum and Park Development Trust and its trading subsidiary, the Gunnersbury Estate Community Interest Company (CIC). The upkeep of the park and museum are funded by a combination of payments from the two owning councils, grants, car parking fees, private events and, sometimes controversially, through large-scale ticketed festivals and concerts. In recent years artists such as The Libertines, Supergrass, PJ Harvey, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Four Tet, Annie Mac, The Specials, The Darkness, Tyler the Creator, The Smashing Pumpkins and Primal Screen have all performed in the park.
My second visit to the park was in September 2026 where I participated in event 693. Being in London, the public transport travel options are pretty good. The closest and best connected tube station is Acton Town, which is served by the District and Piccadilly lines, and the onward walk is just under a kilometre. South Ealing is a similar distance away but is only served by the Piccadilly line. If travelling on National Rail, Kew Bridge is the closest station. It is served by South Western Railway services between London Waterloo and Weybridge. The station is about 500 metres from the park's southern entrance and works out at about 1.5 kilometres to get to the parkrun meeting area. By bus, the E3, H91 or 65 services all stop close by.
Travel by vehicle is possible and there is an on-site car park. This used to be free-of-charge but parking fees were introduced in 2022. As I mentioned above, the car park helps to generate funds that are used towards the upkeep and restoration of the park and museum. To be fair the cost of £1 per hour is quite reasonable for a short visit, plus you know it is being put to good use. Payment can be made by using the RingGo app or by card/contactless at the machine. It is not possible to pay with cash. The car park rules also allow for 5 minutes free parking for drop-offs, and 30 minutes free parking (but you still need to register at the machine/app for this). Full up-to-date information can be found on the park's plan-your-visit webpage. Lastly, the car park appears to have somewhere in the region of about 111 standard spaces plus a further 13 disabled spaces.
If the car park is full or if you simply prefer to park for free, there is a good selection of on-street parking available on the nearby residential side streets on the western, eastern and northern sides of the park. Remember to check for any restrictions before parking but from what I have seen most of the restricted zones seem to operate between Monday and Friday. The ones that are active on Saturdays generally seem to have their restrictions in the afternoon. If cycling, most people seemed to leave their bikes along the side of the path at the start/finish area. Some had been secured to small trees or benches but quite a few were not secured. However, there are loads of proper cycle racks in the park. The closest to the parkrun are at the tennis courts, but there is also a huge bank of them next to the Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub building.
Should an overnight stay be required there are a cluster of hotels to the south of the park. Here you will find the Chiswick High Road Travelodge, Novotel Brentford, Premier Inn Brentford and a good selection of independent options too. There are further Premier Inn and Travelodge branches near Kew Bridge. I also spotted a hotel right next to Acton Town tube station called Acton Town Hotel.
There are toilets in the park and these can be found in between the 'Pure in the Park' cafe and Gunnersbury Park Museum (Gunnersbury Park House). If you have parked in the car park, visiting the toilet will require you to initially head away from the parkrun meeting point. I will also note that Acton Town tube station has some toilets. so if arriving by train this opens up another option. Actually the toilets at the station are on the street side of the barriers, so can be accessed even if not travelling by tube.
This parkrun currently uses two different courses which have completely different meeting points. The 'regular course' is in use for most of the year, and the 'festival course' is used during the summer when the large events take place. Historically, the festival course can be activated any time from May through until September, but the exact dates are dependent on the summer programme of events. These naturally vary from year-to-year. For example, in 2026 the festival route was only in use from mid-June until late July. However a recent (2026) proposal has resulted in increase in the number of days the park can be used for events, so it is possible that the festival course may remain active for a longer period in the future.
If visiting while the regular course is in use, the meeting point is at the northernmost tip of the park near Popes Lane, just northwest of the tennis courts. If visiting when the festival course is in use, the meeting point is adjacent to the children's playground, which is in the very centre of the park. There are 450 metres between the two meeting points, so it is best to check the event's webpage and/or social media channels beforehand so you head to the right location. Whichever one it is, the event awakens shortly before 9am with the first-timers briefing followed by the main briefing. The parkrun starts at 9am.
Both courses take place on the park's tarmac paths which I'm pleased to say have been significantly improved since my last visit, and the best footwear is always regular road shoes. Those wishing to take part with a buggy or dog are very welcome to do so, as are wheelchair users. As far as elevation is concerned, the majority of the course is flat but the southern end of the park sits about 16 metres lower than the northern part, so travelling between the two is mostly where the elevation changes are found. In total my GPS data registered an elevation change of 29 metres on the regular course and 23 metres on the festival course. Links to GPS data and the accompanying course fly-by videos can be found at the bottom of this page. I even dug out the 2013 course data from my previous visit, but there have been quite a few different course configurations in the interim.
Regular course: This one is best described as a single lap lollipop style course, but I think it is actually shaped a little like a heart-shaped balloon on a string. At the start the participants line up facing to the west and as this is a very busy parkrun, the start line extends way beyond the boundary of the footpath, spreading a fair distance onto the grass. During the opening stretch, the field of participants gradually thins out and by the first corner everyone should have managed to slot into a position on the tarmac path. Turning to the south, the course heads gently downhill along the park's western border past the open grass fields. There is a chicane about half-way down this path and the course enters a section lined with mature trees.
At the southern tip of the park is a former clay pit that was landscaped into a lake called the Potomac by the Rothschild family. It is likely that it was given this name for purely aesthetic reasons as it was fashionable at the time to give features exotic names from overseas, so it is very likely that it takes its name from The Potomac River in the USA, but otherwise has no other connection to the 405-mile American waterway. Upon reaching the lake, which is obscured by trees, the parkrun course turns towards the centre of the park and from here weaves its way around until it passes the playground and then heads into the historic landscaped sections which dominate the park's eastern half.
There were plenty of marshals and direction arrows placed at all the important spots, so navigating the course shouldn't be a problem. Once the course has weaved its way through the landscaped areas it then heads along the park's southern border which again is surrounded by many mature trees. In fact the park is home to around 2,500 trees including 400 year old ancient Yews, Cedars of Lebanon and several varieties of Mulberry. Upon reaching the southern tip, the route goes around the south side of the Potomac where it passes the three-story Gothic Tower. This is a folly which started out as a tile kiln but was converted when the Potomac was created.
The final kilometre sees the route return to the park's western border, but this time heading on a very gentle incline back through the trees, past the chicane and back around the open grass fields until returning to the original start area which is now the finish. The grass is home to a bank of volunteers on hand to scan barcodes. On this visit there were 12 volunteers performing this role.
Festival course: This course is an out-and-back route which avoids the main area used for the summer festivals and concerts. The meeting point and the start/finish areas are all adjacent to the playground. The 'out' section of the course follows exactly the same route as the regular course from the playground, through the eastern half and then around the southern path, past the Potomac and up to the chicane. At this point the route has a small loop (briefly on grass) around a cluster of trees and returns back along the exact same paths until arriving back at the playground where the finish is found.
Overall this is a really popular parkrun and as of 2026 it generally has attendances of around 700 people. However, at the time of writing, eleven of the top twelve highest attended events have been in 2026, so the event is still experiencing growth even 15 years after it first started. In fact when I visited on 5 September 2026 for event 693, a new attendance record of 989 was set. To put that into context, it beat the previous highest attendance (910) by 79 which was an 8.6% increase. The full history of results can be found on the event's results history page. The larger numbers are fairly well absorbed on the regular course, but the festival course does suffer from a little more congestion, especially at the start where there is not as much space for overspill onto the grass.
As far as cancellations are concerned, the main reasons seem to be weather related. Slippery surfaces caused by ice or snow are the biggest threat, but the park has a large number of trees and storms / high winds can also lead to cancellations. I believe there may have also been cancellations due to travellers setting up camp in the park and some have been related to the festivals. As always with these things, check beforehand to be sure.
Post-parkrun it is worth having an extended walk around the park because it is really nice, especially the eastern side where a lot of the ornamental buildings are located. If you are a movie fan you may interested to know that scenes from Bend it like Beckham and The World's End were filmed in the park. Anyone with kids will probably end up at the playground, which feels a little bit dated. However there was a public consultation in early 2026 which will hopefully result in a full revamp. Also, remember that the large mansion is home to Gunnersbury Park Museum and I'm happy to report that entry is free. The museum is home to a collection of swords made a short distance away, in Bedfont, on the land which is now home to Bedfont Lakes parkrun. The park is clearly very loved and well-used by the community it serves.
Moving onto the subject of post-parkrun refreshments, there are two options within the park. Firstly there is the park's main cafe called 'Pure in the Park'. This one has a clean, modern feel to it and I'd say is the fancier of the two. Reading through the menu, I came to the conclusion that this place is not overly keen on people that eat a vegan diet, offering very few options across their entire menu and no options at all for breakfast. It is also entirely cashless, so they will not accept cash as payment.
The second cafe is the Clubhouse Cafe in the Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub building. This is right next to the playground, so may be a good option for anyone with kids. This cafe supports 'community activities and health and wellbeing sessions delivered by Brentford FC Community Sports Trust'. The cafe has a more limited number of overall food options, but is much more inclusive, offering meat and vegan items within both their breakfast and lunch menus. Since visiting I have found out that this cafe offers a 25% discount for parkrunners which sadly I didn't take advantage of. However, I am still really pleased we picked this one. I paid by card, but I'm not sure what their policy is on cash payments.
This is a really great parkrun venue and judging by the attendance figures, a lot of people feel the same! I'm not entirely sure why it took me 13 years to revisit, but I am glad I finally did. To come back during the park's centenary year was very special. I'm also glad that this write-up can finally replace the pretty poor one I published back in 2013 (sorry). It was good to see a lot of the park's neglect is slowly being addressed and I look forward to hearing of future improvements! A huge thanks goes to the 59-person strong team of volunteers that welcomed us on this visit.
Related Links:
GPS data and fly-by videos (note: you may need a Strava account to view the GPS data below, the videos are all hosted on YouTube so should be watchable for all)
- Gunnersbury parkrun GPS data (regular course) (2026)
- The Relive course fly-by video (regular course) (2026)
- Gunnersbury parkrun GPS data (2013 course) (Old course - provided for historic information only)
- The Relive course fly-by video (2013 course) (Old course - provided for historic information only)
Other