The Accidental Tourists

Today we spent a day being tourists in our own city. Mostly if the weather is good we head out of town to get some fresh air and exercise but today we were feeling a bit lazy and decided to stay in London.

First we went to Covent Garden and after meandering around the shops, we had a coffee at The Crusting Pipe pub. They have a pleasant outside area in the main market. I was actually quite surprised how reasonable the prices were. It was certainly a lot cheaper than doing the same kind of thing in Paris.

Then we walked over to St. James Park, picked up some sandwiches from the park cafe and ate them sitting on a sunny bench by the pond. I have still not found a city that has parks as good as London’s.

From there, we walked over to Horse Guards where by chance the hourly changing of the sentries was just starting and we ended up at the front of the small crowd that had gathered. It was quite exciting with all the shouting and sword presenting going on. In all the years I’ve lived in London I’ve never seen that before!

After that we went to Charing Cross station and got a train home. I spent the journey thinking that most of the time living in London it’s all so familiar, and often you are in a hurry going somewhere or other that you stop noticing things around you. But today I was reminded what a colourful, exciting city it is, and how enjoyable it must be to visit as a tourist and experience everything for the first time.

Nymans

Nymans Garden

Today we went to Nymans in West Sussex. This is an outstanding National Trust property which is well worth the effort to visit. There are lots of varied things to see including picturesque gardens, woodland, a Victorian mock-medieval manor, and of course the obligatory tea shop.It was a pleasantly warm day and the spring flowers were showing off their best colours along with some spectacular azaleas and rhododendrons. We had some lunch in the cafe, and also some tea and cake later on which is pretty much compulsory when having a day out somewhere like this.

We didn’t bother looking in the house, as the weather was so nice we just wandered around the gardens and woodlands, making use of benches whenever they presented themselves, and enjoying the sunshine.

Annoyingly I had forgotten my camera, so I had to resort to the camera on my phone which didn’t really do justice to the surroundings.

Practicalities: Nymans isn’t the easiest place to get to without a car. We got a train to Crawley, from where you can get buses to the property. However the buses are not very frequent so you can end up with a long wait. On the way there we didn’t want to waste any time so we got a taxi from Crawley which cost £10. On the way back we timed our departure to coincide with a bus back to Crawley which was a more reasonable £2.50 each. Although the bus is sporadic, it does seem to be reliable and runs to the published times. There’s a bus stop right outside the property.

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!

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.