Bentley Priory Nature Reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest[1] and Local Nature Reserve[2][3] in Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow, surrounding the stately home of Bentley Priory.

It is a 55 hectare mosaic of ancient woodland, unimproved neutral grassland, scrub, wetland, streams and an artificial lake, an unusual combination of habitats in Greater London.

Edgware Brook, a small stream which ran through the grounds, was dammed to form Summerhouse Lake, which was named after the lakeside gazebo of Queen Adelaide,[4] the widow of King William IV, who spent the last years of her life there in the 1840s.

[5] The name Bentley is believed to derive from the Anglo-Saxon word Beonet, a place covered in coarse grass, which remain a feature of much of the site today, which includes traditional grassland which has never been treated with fertilisers, and hence is rich in wild flowers.

Its dominant tree is hornbeam, a species characteristic of ancient woodlands, and it probably dates back to the end of the last Ice Age, the Younger Dryas, 11,500 years ago.