9 Places To Explore In Greenwich

Greenwich. It is the home of time, possesses a myriad of historic royal ties and panoramic views of London. What more could you ask for in a borough?

I keep meaning to do these area round-ups as a series, but always seem to be distracted. So far I've managed to sneak in an ode to Marylebone, a gastronomic guide to Kings Cross and a literal meander through the mossy pathways of Richmond Park.

Visiting the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishna Temple, Watford.

Back in February 1973, a property known was Piggott's Manor was donated to the Hare Krishna movement in by former Beatle George Harrison, after the Radha Krishna Temple in central London had become inadequate to house the growing number of devotees.

A mock Tudor Hare Krishna temple was the last thing I'd expect to see in the Hertfordshire countryside - but then there is the stunning Neasden Temple, a Wimbledon Buddhist temple and several mosques across London, so why am I surprised?

Visiting the National Maritime Museum: The Emma, Lady Hamilton - Seduction and Celebrity Exhibition

She was the Kim Kardashian of the early 18th Century. No, actually, Kim K wishes she was half the person that Emma, Lady Hamilton became. Rising from a penny-scraping existence on the wrong side of the law, she won the heart of national hero Lord Nelson (that's where the allegory doesn't quite match), became friends with Marie Antoinette, developed from a household chattel to a titled Lady, was a household celebrity mauled in the press, saved a Royal Family from danger, was a muse to artist George Romney and sadly died in penury despite her perceived services to the realm.

I've long been fascinated by this historical character whom I (and about 15 people in my high school at any one time) shared a name with. After reading most of the books published about Emma Hamilton, when I heard that the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich were running an exhibition, I did a typical Londoner thing and made a mental note before forgetting entirely about visiting. Luckily, Twitter came to the rescue, and when the museum ran a special whereby Emma's could visit the exhibit for free one weekend I managed to lure the lovely Claire into a spot of brunch and a wander through history.

A Christmas corner of London: Oxford Street and Picadilly Circus

I usually avoid Oxford Street and Picadilly Circus as much as possible, preferring to duck along the lesser visited lanes that run alongside the main thoroughfares the times I absolutely have to brave the area.

The one month where I make an exception is December.

It would be impossible to talk about London at Christmas without mentioning the shopping heart of my favourite city. Commercial greed and the chaos of thousands of visitors aside, each corner you turn is another festively trimmed doorway of cheer.

A Christmas corner of London: Chelsea

We've decided to fill our cups with Christmas cheer this year, and visit the 4 "corners" of the Circle Line (in true London style) to enjoy the different faces of festive London. This weekend I found myself brunching with some of the crew in Chelsea (at the beautifully instagrammable no.11 Pimlico Road) so went for a meander.

The short walk from Sloane Square tube station to Pimlico Road was a revelation alone. Christmas trees adorned shop lintels, harpists gently plucked carols whilst raising money for charity, chestnuts were being roasted over flame (I didn't actually realise this was a thing in real life), a small choir sang on a pub corner and the smell of mulled wine from a local business hung beautifully in the air.

The V&A Museum of Childhood

Wandering along to the East End outpost of my favourite London museum kept getting pushed down to the back of the London list.

My own Commonwealth dappled childhood was hugely influenced by British culture, especially literature – Famous Five books inspired us to investigate the world around us (and that dogs could be your friends as much as people), A. A. Milne shared the importance of good people (and when in doubt, honey), Lewis Carroll warned us off drugs, J.M. Barrie the importance of never smiling at a crocodile and Terry Pratchett still makes grown-up-me smile with the many hilarious layers of satire.

Friday figments and photos: Are you going to Scarborough Fayre...

This week has been a whirlwind of delicious chaos (and at least one night collapsed on the couch.) Amongst other tidbits, we discovered a pop-up garden overlooking the busiest Street in London...

We attended the dreamiest wedding in Scarborough...

Middle and Inner Temple Inns; a touch of bewigged architecture

Old buildings are my favourite. Forget the souless glass sheathes of modern day architecture, gleaming constructions punctuated with steel and plastics that can think. I ♥ creaky wooden floors with patinas of long since gone families living their lives over drunken levels, I ♥ the beauty of wattle and daub walls keeping the weather away, I ♥ the stories of love, loss and challenge conquered by people of yesteryear.

 

At our wedding, the vicar asked us to stop for a moment and consider the wealth of emotion contained within the 11th Century Saxon tower we were standing under. It's probably ridiculously fanciful, but it was one of the most memorable phrases that have stayed with me over the years.

Hawker House, Street Feast Canada Water

On the outskirts of the looming finance district tower, a small island of foodie pop-ups exists. A secret known best to Twitter-wielders and the blog mafia (oh, and all the local office workers who have disposable incomes and furry dependants) - namely Street Feast's Hawker House.

The boys almost exclusively wore beards with their checked shirts, the beer was craft and the bins were burger-themed to my utter delight.

Friday figments and photos: Grey June skies

I've cottoned on to something, why these weekly posts seem to hard. It's the fault of instagram. I'm always a late adoptee to everything (*cough* snapchat *cough*), and after looking at instagram and thinking 'nah' can't be bothered, I was peer pressured into joining yet another source of wanderlust.

See, it's not my fault!

With only a limited time available to dedicate myself to staring at a small screen, I have no theme bar 'oooh, that's pretty'. I probably should, I'm sure but that requires a little more effort on my part. It does open your eye to the world around you - it sounds crazy and cliched, but it's true.

Brunch at the Sky Garden (Darwin Brasserie)

Living somewhere for a long time can lull you in a false sense of ‘oh, I’ll do it some other time’. When I began blogging, it was in an effort to pull us out of the work > TV > sleep / repeat cycle we had slumped into. For example we watched in long-term slowmotion snaps as 20 Fenchurch Street, known better as the Walkie Talkie building, was pulled up from the ground.

From pre-construction opposition of ‘yet another’ strangely shaped skyscraper to the media frenzy as the building’s signature curve of glass melted a section of car by concentrating the sunshine, we watched and made promises to ourselves (read: me nagging) that we’d visit the Sky Garden to check out the views of London “soon”.

The 10 best picnic spots in London

*Whispers* The weather in London is amazing right now. The sun is shining, there has been a gentle breeze and everyone, everyone is reveling in a (probably) short spurt of summer weather #touchwood

Overall, it rains less in London than I thought it would before moving here, in fact I don't even carry an umbrella preferring to carry a hooded coat in the dead of winter (they're warmer too). But, when we are graced with those postcard perfect weekends we've learned to drop everything and thoroughly enjoy the dose of Vitamin D. Over the years we've discovered that there are a few classic places that are lovely to visit, but not so ideal for picnicking - Primrose Hill (unless you're prepared to walk for ages or try to stop bottles rolling downhill) or St James Park (it's just too little really), but we've also discovered a few little gems.

Friday figments and photos: Summer is coming

Does any one else find themselves checking their instagram any time they are asked what they have been up to?



It seems that the moment I've done something that I forget about it.

Friday figments and photos: Posh nosh and blossoms

Rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, sun. We are in the middle of the emotional rollercoaster that is April showers, but with the promise of a delicious May and a cup of Joe in hand, it is worth the wait. In the meantime in between the raindrops and mischeif I've just been settling into the couch with the latest bingewatch TV series, because that's what London Kiwis do (the mischief I mean - what London Kiwis do in the privacy of their own homes is a state secret.)

Fact.

 

They also misspell mischeif several times in a row, undoubtedly to the horror of teachers past. Sorry teachers, sorry.

St James Park and Green Park, April Blossom style

Sometimes casting off the yolk of adult responsibility is the best feeling the world. Having woken up to April sunshine pouring in the windows we threw the rulebook out, grabbed our Sunnies and booked in a Sunday roast dinner. Lately we've been trying to leave at least one day a weekend empty in order to get all the boring #lifemin done and some quality relaxation in, but sometimes, well, YOLO.

At the moment Spring seems to be unfurling with a vengance - there are birdie babies abounding,  blossom heavy boughs and biscuits dunking into beverages at a rate of knots. (Sorry, aliteration too stretched?)

Friday figments and photos: Hibernation and Spring

I've been doing this weird hibernating thing (you know it's getting bad when on Sunday night your husband turns to you for the weekly diary pow wow and goes "umm, what do you mean you only have one thing on during the week and no real plans for the weekend? Not even brunch? Is there something wrong?") which I blame on the weather.




I guess it could be because April is notorious for fickle weather and I haven't wanted to make plans just in case the sun is pouring or the rain is shining. You know how it is, right?

Osterley House & Gardens, London

The next time you're heading out towards Heathrow, I want to you go about 3 hours earlier than normal. No, I haven't lost my mind (at least I don't think so) but googling things to do near a beer festival my better half was keen to go to, I discovered a stately home in the area. I used my powers of persuasion to convince him of breakfast and a visit enroute. (Spoiler: I ended up wandering for about 4 hours and missing the beer festival, oops!)

(Click these photos to enlarge them properly)

I didn't realise that whilst wandering through the house and grounds I would discover a bluebell glade, uncover a Hollywood batcave entrance, hitch a leg over gate stiles in front of some judgemental kids, learn some quirky London history, drink too much coffee (no suprises there thought), browse through fresh veges, admire priceless paintings, go on an Easter bunny hunt and discover a luxurious summer home. (The National Trust should put that on their website.)

15 more secrets of London that the tourist crowds miss

If you happen to be planning on a London staycation this Easter, or even a London visit, there are a plethora of quirky places to while away an hour or two in between brunches and afternoon teas.

Following a post of 15 London secrets that the tourist crowds miss, I decided it was high time to lasso another selection of my favourite secrets that most tourists might miss. Some of these places are free, some have cats, a few have suits of armour, several have excellent coffee, none of them are sponsored and they will all surprise even the longest serving London addict who hasn't visited in years.

Discover a tropical oasis inside the ugliest building ever
Free to enter, the Barbican Conservatory is allegedly the second biggest in London and is home to exotic fish and over 2,000 species of tropical plants and trees. The residential estate itself was originally built to replace housing destroyed in the Second World War and also houses a labyrinthine layout of “art, music, theatre, dance, film and creative learning events”.

Friday figments and photos: March

If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb. Or so the old proverb goes (you'd think that living in a country for nearly a decade will educate you in all of the local wacky sayings, but no...)

In this vein, I thought I might start the month with a touch of analysis (well, end of February - tah-may-to toe-mah-toe) and indulged in a little interrogation of you lovelies who pop over to my mutterings on a fairly regular basis.

9 ways to make living in London easier

Over the years I have called London a lot of deserved names. Tempestuous, stunning, old, demanding, fantastic, incorrigible, sassy, boring (which was unfair of me), mischievous, inscrutable, over-the-top, busy, magical and usually wonderfully ridiculous.

You can go to up to Charing Cross for a greasy full English breakfast, over to Paris for lunch and party at the Ritz for dinner. What's more, with only a short hop out of the city, you can sleep in a 14th Century Castle, drink your way around Europe and attempt to find the Loch Ness monster. The flipside is that the UK, and London in particular can be a demanding place to live.

Over the years I've found that the secret to London is accepting that happiness does take work (and occasionally a little luck) and there is one key thing to keep in mind when coming over: you will still probably have to wake up to an alarm and work the daily grind. But if, you are courageous, the benefits can be immense. Why be poor, tired and unhappy in a rural backwater when you can be poor, tired and happy in a City where your potential can be immense?