Box Hill

Juniper Bottom

Today was our first country walk of the year, which took place at Box Hill. This is a favourite walking area as it’s easy to get to by train, and there are various routes you can take.We started with lunch at a pub called the Stepping Stones, very near Westhumble station. This is a very good place which welcomes walkers as long as you take off any muddy boots. Ours were not muddy at all as we hadn’t done anything yet. They have a varied lunch menu including plenty of vegetarian choices. On Sundays they do a roast, and even offer a veggie version which is a giant Yorkshire pudding with roast potatoes and veg with gravy inside. Today was Saturday so I had a veggie lasagne and Julie had cauliflower cheese.

We then started to make our way up Box Hill using a route we hadn’t tried before via a wooded valley called Juniper Bottom. It was quite a gentle ascent at first, with the end bit getting a bit steeper. The weather was perfect, some sunshine but not too warm. The views were great from the top of the hill. It always makes me laugh going there because when I was younger my parents used to literally drag me up there as I sulked and moaned the whole way. Once I kicked my shoe off so it bounced quite a way down the hill, thinking the whole family would have to abandon the activity. But instead I was made to go and retrieve it and then walk back, and then complete the walk up the hill. I sulked for England that day.

Things couldn’t be more different now, I love to go for country walks. It’s cheap fun, and it’s good exercise. Although, I only enjoy it in good weather. So I’m not that hardcore really. But if it’s dry I can do a 10 mile walk quite happily.

We didn’t do anywhere near 10 miles today though, it was more like 5. It should have been a bit more but I went a bit wrong with the map and we ended up cutting it short and ended up in Dorking. You can see the route we took here.

To explore Box Hill, take a train to Westhumble station, and use an Ordnance Survey Explorer map to follow the public footpaths (marked in green). Check the contours though, some routes up the hill are very steep and are better suited for on the way down!

Benda Bilili!

Staff Benda Bilili

This evening I went to the Brixton Ritzy cinema to see a preview of a new film Benda Bilili, with a question and answer session afterwards with the directors. I had never heard of the film but it was about a subject close to my heart, African music.

The film is a documentary which follows the rags-to-riches tale of the band Staff Benda Bilili who despite being mostly crippled by polio and living on the streets of war ravaged Kinshasa, have been catapulted into world music superstardom.

Whilst that is the basic story, there are a lot of other elements the film brings up such as attitudes to the disabled, the human impact of the vicious war in Congo, and above all the resilience of people and how, when it’s all you have, hope can be enough to live on.

I really enjoyed the film. There are some very distressing parts to it, but the overall mood is upbeat and positive. After the film finished there was applause as the Belgian directors came into the auditorium.

There was then about half an hour of questions put to the directors, many of which were about the individuals in the band and how fame had affected them. Another popular subject for the questions was about the experience of filming in that environment. The directors said that locals are very suspicious of Westerners with cameras, thinking that all anyone wants to do is to show how terrible everything is in their country. The directors had a battle against some hostility to try and convince locals that they were essentially trying to tell a positive story, albeit against a negative backdrop. The band are revered in Kinshasa and are seen as cultural ambassadors, many people having lost all faith in politics.

So if you get a chance to see it in a cinema or on DVD I would recommend it, it certainly makes you think and gives you an insight into how humans can experience such terrible deprivation and suffering but somehow transcend and transform their own and others’ lives through music and hope.

Pancake Day

Crêpes Suzettes flambées

Today was pancake day, and as usual Julie insisted that we celebrate it in the traditional way after dinner. I always feel a bit underwhelmed by the idea of pancakes, until I actually start eating them, when I realise how delicious they are. Then I forget again until next year. The taste of home made pancakes does remind me of when I was younger as we always did the pancake thing at home.

Back then it was just lemon and sugar as the toppings. Now, we get out every jam and preserve we can find along with some fruit and whatever else seems good. It was a particularly good spread this year as we had some nutella, some Swedish drottningsylt (blueberry and raspberry jam), bananas, whipped cream and various other goodies.

Inspired by our various trips to France I decided to try making a Crepe Suzette which turned out really well with a butter and orange sauce and the spectacle of flambee! Julie made the pancakes and I did the sauce and pyrotechnics. It all passed off safely you’ll be happy to hear.

i do it as follows: melt some butter in a frying pan then add orange juice, grated orange zest, and a bit of sugar. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the previously cooked pancakes, fold into quarters and baste with the sauce. Add the liqueur of your choice (in this case, Armagnac) and ignite either with a match or the flash way by tilting the liquid towards the hob flame. Wait until it goes out or extinguish with the flat of a spatula, depending on how much booze you want left in the dessert. Then turn out on to the plate, pouring the sauce over.

Of course, you could make pancakes any time. But there is something quite fun about only having certain things at certain times to make them special. Roll on the hot cross buns I say!

Chiswick House Camellia Festival

Camellia

Today we went to Chiswick House where there was a camellia festival. This was an exhibition in the newly restored conservatory. The camellia collection of Chiswick House is believed to be the largest in Europe.

The plants are very attractive to look at, and look as though they should smell nice but in fact they don’t have any scent.

Some of these plants are nearly 200 years old and were mostly brought from China in the early 19th century. There was a lot of good information about the collection, and stewards were on hand to answer any questions.

Chiswick House and Gardens has had a major restoration project completed in June 2010 and the whole place was certainly looking a lot better than the last time we visited several years ago.

The cafeteria especially was much improved. It is now run by Company Of Cooks, and after we had finished the exhibition we went there and had some good toasted sandwiches for lunch.

My blog being somewhat behind schedule, the camellia festival has now finished. But Chiswick House and Gardens itself is worth a visit for a stroll around. It’s not the easiest place to get to; we took the District Line to Turnham Green from where it’s about 15 minutes walk.