Hampstead Heath

WHEN a group of six teenage girls were spotted acting eccentrically on Hampstead Heath, 86-year-old walker John Beveridge was curious as to what they were doing.

He told the New Journal: “I was walking up to the Men’s Pond two weeks ago and I saw one of them take out a spoon and start digging up a patch.” He approached the group and asked them why they were taking the turf.

“One of the young women turned to me and pointed to a nearby bench,” he said. “She asked me if I had heard of someone called Taylor Swift – remarkably, I had – and she said that Taylor was sitting over there.”

The walker had noticed the singer relaxing on the Heath with friends after her sellout shows at Wembley Stadium.

Taylor Swift [Raph_PH]

Swift lived for a time in north London and was often spotted strolling across the common land, so maybe it wasn’t a surprise that when she had some days off from her world tour, she took a wander across Hampstead Heath again.

Mr Beveridge added: “The girls said they were digging up the turf as Taylor Swift had just walked on it. They were going to take it home and plant it in their gardens. I did remind them that it would break the Heath’s bye-laws, but also remembered how my son once dug up a piece of the White Hart Lane pitch to put in our back garden, so I had some sympathy for their excitement.”