Bellarine Traveller: In London

I have spent 3 nights in London and enjoying it immensely. I quickly got the feeling I was on a giant sized “Monopoly Board” with so many familiar names and places.

I spent 2 nights at Club 63, which is a private hotel owned by Soroptimist International. It is in a great central location on Bayswater Road opposite Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and a two minute walk to the Tube Station. I met a group of members there from Pembrokeshire and was invited out to dinner with them. One of the members had just come back from the SISWP Conference in NZ – she tells me it was a good conference.

I am now at the Girl Guide accommodation centre, Pax Lodge. This is located in a lovely area of London near Hamsptead and is very comfortable. The area is just lovely with lots of nice walks and lots of very expensive real estate close by!

I have played tourist since I have been here – it seems to be a city where you can just wander around and find yourself in familiar places.

I think I deserve a “Gold Star” as I have managed to get around using the London Underground! And for me, that is a really good effort as directions are not one of my strong points. However it is much easier than the Tokyo Subway system!

On my first day here I did have to arrange train tickets so I can get to Europe, after that I just wandered. Got back on the ‘Tube’ and then hopped off at Knightsbridge intending to have a look at Harrods, but walked the wrong way and ended up at Buckingham Palace (see, my sense of direction again – guess I will have to go back again and find Harrods).

There are a lot of works happening around London as the Queen’s Jubilee is happening early next month and the Olympics are not far off either. I did go into the Royal Mews and enjoyed seeing all that.

I took a trip on the Thames and went as far as Greenwich. Greenwich is now a World Heritage site and home of ‘mean-time’. I went into the Old Naval College, the building was designed by Christopher Wren and is now a museum – the building is beautiful. I was going to walk up to the Royal Observatory, but again lots of works happening and all the paths were fenced off – so I had to give to give it a miss. I did wander through Greenwich Village and that was delightful, lovely old traditional buildings and some very old pubs. The boat trip along the Thames was interesting in itself with an excellent commentary pointing out lots about the history of the Thames and seeing buildings & places I had heard about since I was a child – a good outing.

There is a National Trust property nearby in Hampstead called Fenton House and Garden. It is a 17^th century house with a walled garden including an orchard and a vegetable garden.

The house is beautiful and the most recent owner filled it with her collections of porcelain, Georgian furniture and 17th-century needlework. The needlework pictures are really beautiful.

This NT property had donated a collection of Harpsichords and other old keyboard instruments. Some of these were beautifully decorated with paintings. One of the conditions of the donation was that the instruments had to be kept in working order and played. So each week music students & others visit and play the instruments. On the top floor of the building there is space for people to repair and recondition any instruments. I was lucky, I was there on the day when the music students were there and the music was very enjoyable.

The garden at Fenton House is absolutely stunning – part of the garden was quite formal with lawns and floral borders. The orchard was quite old and had been replanted early in the 20^th century. Part of the orchard was left as it would have been years ago with many native wildflowers growing around the fruit trees. The orchard looked lovely with the apple & cherry trees in flower with a carpet of bluebells, blue & pink forget-me-nots and daffodils.

I have been to a few NT properties on my travels, but this one is a really nice property and was worth the visit even if I did get lost walking back!