An early walk in Richmond Park

It seemed like a good idea at the time so I agreed to go for a walk in Richmond Park at six in the morning to avoid the massed hordes that fill the place on any fine day.

The route was fairly simple, enter the park at Ham Gate, follow the boundary wall anti-clockwise past Kingston Gate and on to Robin Hood Gate and come back through the centre of the park passing Pen Ponds and taking in Isabella Plantation.


The deer were out in force along the route and I saw five or six different groups of them during the walk. It was early in the day so the sun was bright but not that warm, however, the deer were still mostly keeping to the shade - which did not help the photography! Even though I was fairly close to them at times I only got a few respectful stares and managed to avoid panicking them in to running away.


It was very much end of season for most of the flowering plants in Isabella Plantation but there were a few trees still in bloom to provide large blotches of colour to contrast with the dark greens of the abundant foliage.


Isabella Plantation becomes uncomfortably busy during the day so it was especially nice to be able to enjoy it in peace. I saw only one or two other people in there and they were quickly hidden behind large shrubs and bushes.

First thoughts on Sheffield

It looks as though I will be spending most of the next few weeks in Sheffield and I am looking forward to exploring it as I have only been here once before and that was for one day the better part of thirty years ago.

It is pretty harsh to judge anywhere after just a couple of days but here are some initial thoughts on Sheffield anyway!



The public spaces in the centre of the city are plentiful, large, surrounded by impressive buildings old and new, are packed with urban art and are largely devoid of people.

In fact the whole of the centre feels like a scene from a post-apocalyptic film (think 28 Days Later) with the few people that are to be seen sheltered in the buses and trams that cross the city.

There are lots of hotels. These are also empty but somehow manage to charge around £100 a night.

There is plenty of urban art and this is a good mix of the majestic, such as in Peace Square shown above, and the subtle. One of my favourites is this multi-story car park that is clad in shaped steel squares to hide its purpose.

There is also quite a lot of street furniture (benches, bins and barriers etc.) which seems to have been procured at different times as there are several distinct styles in use across the city centre. I particularly like the bins and barriers that look like extra terrestrial armoured warriors.

The restaurants that I have found so far tend to be Mediterranean in nature and while I have managed to eat both Indian and Chinese these took some finding and I have, so far, only found one of each.

This is my only my third day in Sheffield with quite a few more to come which will be spent working hard then wandering around curiously with camera n hand. More views of the city in pictures and words will follow.

Three Kew Gardens

These days I really am spending almost all of my free time at weekens visiting gardens and then writing about them, and here are three more. These gardens are all in Kew and are a short walk from Kew Station. That also means that they are a short walk from the The Railway public house which is where my afternoon started with a pint of Staropramen.

The first two gardens were fairly typical suburban gardens in size and shape but in each case the owners had worked hard to turn the usual in to something interesting. The first garden complemented the planting with a collection of odd objects, including a pair of feet and this charming pig.


The second garden made the most of its South facing wall to produce a border with a rich variety of shapes, heights and colours.


The final garden was on a large corner plot and was divided into several sections but I managed to limit myself to just sharing just one picture of it because I suspect some of you may be getting tired of all these garden photos!

Not pictured here are the cup of tea and two slices of cake that I enjoyed in this garden. The money all went to charity so how could I possibly refuse such an offer?

Five Garden Close, Putney

I seem to be writing about gardens a lot in this blog at the moment mainly because I am visiting lots of gardens, though I am not quite sure how that happened. I am no keener on gardens now than I was previously and I guess that the increased visiting is simply down to greater knowledge of what is available through the National Gardens Scheme and greater free time in which to visit them.

A pleasant cycle through Richmond Park, Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath took me to the iconoclastic Five Garden House built in Huf Haus style and surrounded by a well designed and cared for garden.


The house is surrounded by a decked walkway and just beyond that at the front of the house are two ponds separated by a narrow path to the lawn and front gate. This space is full of plants, trees, stones, watering cans, pots, etc. but still carries off the modern minimalist look with ease.


At one side of the house there is another smaller pond that was busy with activity as several pairs of dragon flies got on with their Spring rituals. Here the borders have been discretely planted for colour as well as for shape.


As the side and front gardens merge the borders become bigger and bolder and a subtle path lead you towards the lawn and proffers different views of the garden. What makes this garden even more enjoyable (for the owners at least) is that the exterior walls of the house are all glass and so it can be enjoyed from indoors from almost every room.

A warm day, a good cycle through park land and an interesting garden at the end of the journey made this an excellent venture. The glass of wine sipped on the front veranda helped too.

Developments in Richmond Park

Whilst the Kingston upon Thames Society (KSoc) deals primarily with the built environment (buildings and roads etc.) it does also take an interest in Richmond Park, which is an important part of life in Kingston.

At the last KSoc meeting we were treated to an excellent talk by Simon Richards, the Park Manager, who gave an insight in to what he does to protect and develop the park, with a particular emphasis on the physical elements to suit the interests of the audience.

During the talk I noted quite a few things that caught my attention, including:

• The park comes under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, rather than Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; which may say something of the Government's expectations of the park.
• The boundary of the park extends some 5m beyond the perimeter wall so that park officers can gain access to both sides of the wall for maintenance. Most of the land beyond the wall is leased and now forms part of people's gardens.
• High ambient lighting is an increasing problem for nocturnal life and one of the ways they try to manage this is to comment on planning applications that add external lighting near the park boundary.
• Plans to route more air traffic over Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common may suit some local residents but they will impact on the life and ambiance of the park.
• The views from Richmond Park, e.g. to St Paul's Cathedral, are important. The new T5 building almost masks Windsor Castle and the John Lewis building in Kingston blocked the view of Kingston Bridge.

The main point that came across to me from the long and interesting talk was the need to try and balance the often very conflicting needs of the various users of the park, especially when it comes to the cars v bikes v pedestrians debate. Being a reasonably elderly audience overall there was a strong bias towards cars and parking and little support for cyclists. I thought that discretion was the better part of valour and kept my view that cars should be completely banned from the park to myself!