This will be an occasional series of places I have visited that particularly stand out for me. They also fill in when I haven’t anything else to post (shush!). We start off at Barnes Wetland Centre in south west London. I’ve been here twice and still love it. I admit I can only recognise a handful of birds, but that doesn’t stop me enjoying it. There are otters and fish, frogs and all sorts of other creatures. For the kids there is pond dipping. Around the site there are hides with guides to birds where you can sit and look over the lakes. There is a cafe with outside seating and it is just a nice place to spend a day. I find it amazing that this is London!
For my next trip, we head into London itself to visit Charles Dickens Museum. This is a beautiful house and has a great cafe, also with outdoor seating in an enclosed garden (sadly the day I was there the weather wasn’t good enough to sit outside). The rooms in the house are interesting and beautifully decorated. Charles Dickens is a fascinating man. On the one hand, he stood up for the poor, bringing them to light through his stories, as well as campaigning with some of the well-known campaigners of his time to make things better for the poor. On the other hand, he was cruel to his wife, disowned her and tried to turn his children against her. A very complex character.
Lastly, this week we visit Limehouse and a glimpse of one walk I took early one year when there was ice on the river and ducks were sliding around on it! I stayed in a retreat house, The Royal Foundation of St Katherine on a B&B basis to explore parts of Limehouse Cut and Regent’s Canal. Before the days when I had Google Maps and carrying just a poor physical map, I did get myself lost at one point. Thank goodness for walkers much better prepared than me!
If you are interested in walking in this area, here is a walk, part of which I walked, but I headed in a different direction. This walk is closer to mine. If you look at the map, you can see that I headed towards Three Mills Island and the Olympic Park along Limehouse Cut. I then headed towards Victoria Park and the Regent’s Canal, before heading back. A good circular walk for around six miles.
And that wraps things up for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this whistle-stop journey through parts of London you may not know.
My London+ 