Hampstead Heath and the Hill Garden

On a chilly 18th January 2025, nine of us met at Stratford Station to catch the newly named Mildmay Line (ex Overground) to Hampstead Heath Station, and Kathy & Brian met us en route.

This was a re-run of last year’s August walk since the rain had put some off then, but the cold evidently wasn’t such a deterrent for EFOGers, though unlike in August, there were no signs of swimmers in the ponds today.

Kenwood HouseWe passed to the left of the ponds and followed the paths heading for Vale of Health Pond 2.

Following a path just to the left of VH Pond 2 we headed for Whitestone Pond with Hampstead Observatory virtually next to it. Just beyond the Pond is Jack Straw’s Castle – not named after the Labour MP, but a leader of the 14th C Peasants’ Revolt – it used to be a pub, frequented by Karl Marx, Dickens et al, but alas is now converted to flats.

Beyond the Castle we turned left towards West Heath, then shortly right to arrive at the Hill Garden and Pergola, a lovely oasis in the woods, which we wandered through. In August we’d kept to the Pergola and hadn’t realised we could actually walk through some of the gardens themselves.

The group at Parliament HillWe then headed down to the Old Bull & Bush pub, immortalised in music hall song, which Kathy and others gave a brief rendition of. Turning alongside that we headed towards the main Hampstead Heath, passing Blue plaques for William Blake (poet) and Sir Raymond Unwin (architect and designer of Hampstead Garden Suburb).

Entering the Heath, we headed for Kenwood House and the café. When we had almost finished our food a couple of pigeons started pestering, but then in a Hitchcock like scene several went for the food on a neighbouring table where two people were still eating, and within seconds there were about 20 pigeons on and around the table.

Leaving the café we headed for Parliament Hill and a slightly misty view over London. En route we passed a group encouraging birdwatching and lending binoculars, then a little further on we saw 3 cormorants in a tree overlooking a pond.

Just before arriving back at the station after about a 5 mile walk we did a quick detour into the ‘World Peace Garden’, a small urban wooded garden area backing onto the railway and adorned near the entrance with prayers and poems.

Richard.  19th January 2025

A visit to the Natural History Museum Gardens

On Monday 16th December, eight of us met at South Kensington station at 2pm and headed through the underground tunnel towards the Natural History Museum.  Previously, at the 'Museums' exit, you'd climb some stairs to then walk along the road and access the museum either via the front or side entrance. Now, following a major re-work of the gardens that was completed a few months ago, the tunnel brings you straight out into a reasonably wide space at the start of the Evolution Timeline Garden, with a choice of taking a few steps up or following a zigzag pathway to explore the different areas of this section. EFOG members at the Natural History Museum GardensRocks (mostly from different regions of the UK, starting with the oldest and moving through the ages), fossils (real and brass models), plants (mostly ferns) and sculptures (dinosaurs) tell the story of the evolution of our planet, starting with the emergence of the first life forms moving through the age of the dinosaur and up to the present day; the paths take you on a 540 million year journey in about 15 minutes.

Listening to the sounds of underwater lifeI'd found an audio (presumably for visually impaired visitors) that explained what we'd be seeing in each of the two gardens that have been created and also described what was deemed the best route to follow. Even better, I found a transcript of that audio, but needed to edit it down a bit or I'd have been talking all day. Unfortunately, whilst continuing my editing on the train, I managed to delete the whole lot so we mostly just wandered, without any enlightening commentary or explanation. I remembered a few bits, so we noticed some of the brass tactile objects, depicting early life forms, that are embedded in the pathway or the rocks, saw evidence of the mosses that the NHM team are actively trying to cultivate here, saw ferns that were originally imported from Australia that can be completely dried out, transported and will start growing again if re-wetted and we also found the coppery-orange, fossilised tree trunk.  We had a group photo taken in front of 'Fern' - the name given to the Diplodocus skeleton, cast in bronze, that's in the central 'Jurassic' section. There are smaller sculptures of dinosaur skeletons nearby and also a couple of large ammonite fossils, but Fern really is quite impressive to see. 

One of the older group membersAfter a brief detour to the newly opened Garden Cafe for drinks / cakes, we finished the Evolution section, passing the winged mammals area and then following a series of metallic footprints, embedded in the path, that represent the evolution of animals and mammals through to the emergence of humans.Crossing in front of the museum entrance we then headed towards the Nature Discovery Garden. Here, there are representations of grasslands, wetlands and woodlands, a large pond and a smaller one, listening posts so that we could hear the sounds of life underwater, of ant colonies under ground, beetle larvae munching on rotting wood and of tree roots moving; there are also giant metal funnels that direct your gaze to sculptures - animals, reptiles and insects - on the museums fascade that you may otherwise not notice, plus a few viewing posts with magnified visuals of some of the insects likely to be around us. Pond viewing platformThere are also benches for those who want to sit and enjoy their surroundings and a number of wooden, curved recliners for those who really want to lie back and get in touch with nature - a couple of us tested those out. Nearby is a section that, at certain times of the year, will be grazed by sheep and close to that was an area with a net tent inside it and a warning sign telling people to keep clear "Science in progress". For us, it was a fun afternoon and interesting to wander around, but the NHM's scientists are monitoring the diversity that these gardens attract, despite it being a small space, in the middle of London, and have multiple microphones and other instruments dotted around. 

Once we'd seen as much as we could, most of us went in to the museum and had a look around the Dinosaurs section before retreating to the cafe for a well-deserved drink and piece of cake.  

A few areas, in each of the sections, were closed either for maintenance or for reasons not stated and the gardens will naturally change as plants grow and seasons change, so it's definitely worth considering a return visit at some point. 

Jill S.   19th December 2024

Broxbourne to Rye House Walk

With storm Bert battering much of the country on Saturday 23rd November, I headed to Stratford on a grey overcast day, and met Madeleine before we headed off to Broxbourne on the train. At Broxbourne we met up with Cathy, Richard and Lorraine, who had come by car. The weather forecast said the rain should stop by 11 o’clock. However, it hadn’t; but undaunted, we set off northwards along the River Lee Navigation, knowing that if the rain continued we could take shelter in the cafe just two miles away.

Fish and Eel Pub at Dobbs WeirThe river was pretty quiet as we passed some of the brightly coloured narrow boats moored up by the river banks, some in pristine condition, whilst others needed a little TLC. Even the wildlife seemed reluctant to venture out. We passed one hardy boater cruising the river and after about 20 minutes the rain stopped, although we still played “dodge the puddles” on the rough track beside the river. We soon reached the cafe at Dobbs Weir and had a stop for some drinks and a snack.

Leaving the cafe, we rejoined the river, crossing the weir, heading to Rye House. This section is a bit industrialised, but what struck me (luckily not an overhanging branch) was that I couldn’t hear the go-karts at Rye House kart track. As we reached the track, the go-karts went out on the circuit, having waited for the track to dry off.

Rye House GatehouseLeaving the Lee Navigation we crossed the river to visit Rye House Gatehouse, which was part of one of the first brick built houses in the country, dating back to 1443, and is a Grade I listed building. It has been home to royalty, ghosts and an assassination plot. It wasn’t open, so we had a look around the outside. RSPB Rye Meads is just a little further down the road, but we didn’t go there.

Retracing our steps, we crossed back over the river and railway to walk southwards along the New River path. We stopped to watch a flock of ducks, which were acting strangely, with some of the gentleman ducks rearing up out of the water and making a whistling noise, presumably to impress the ladies (no, not Cathy, Madeleine and Lorraine, I meant the lady ducks!).

The Gatehouse from the rearWe continued along the New River, an aqueduct built to bring fresh water from Hertford to north London. It’s obviously man made as it’s higher than much of the surrounding valley. We followed an Egret and then a Cormorant as we walked along the river, with good views out over the Lee Valley to our left, and some very posh houses over the river. Arriving back at Broxbourne we headed for the cafe. .

The walk had been about 6 miles along two watercourses, and the weather had been decent apart from at the start. We had included two cafe stops, and a historic building as well. All in all, it was a very enjoyable walk.

Trev Eley.   27th November 2024

 Photos by Madeleine

Frieze London Sculpture Exhibition

On Sunday 20th October, eight of us met at Great Portland Street station at 10.30am.  Although it was a bit wet to start with, that soon cleared and at least it wasn't cold.

The Frieze Sculptures - an annual event that is London's largest free display of outdoor art - are dotted around The English Garden in Regent's Park; this year there were 25 works of art on display, although one was only in situ during the Art Fair, last week, so we missed that. 

Bambatha IBy zigzagging across the grass, we visited every piece that was there: a dancer figure that morphed a bird's head onto a human body (albeit one with four arms); a large clay head; a doubled figure that had four arms with the upturned hands holding the 'head' up, four feet and two faces (Seeing Both Sides); a bronze sculpture of the artist encircled by a brass snake-like coil (Bambatha I); split rocks, that came from the Dorset coast, alongside a tall, cast-brass lightning rod (Lightning Rod) that looked like a shell (next to which a linked, free qigong class was taking place as qigong is about cultivating energy from within); a brass bell, in the shape of a calla lily, handing from a tree; the shadow of a tree painted onto the ground in front of it using grass paint (who knew there was such a thing?); metallic structures representing figures uniting land and sea; two towering pillars of ceramic painkiller and psychosis pills; three separate works by one artist, focussing on repetitive movement, which supposedly contain anatomical figures but in which we found elephants, fish and cartoon mice; a stack of bronze balls topped with what was described as an elaborate hairpin; a mosaic inspired by a large mausoleum floor that was recently uncovered in Southwark; a flower head with chicken feet; a black & white chequered table (Materials 0f the Mind TheatreMaterials 0f the Mind Theatre) with what were apparently clay sculptures resembling costumes (but looked like amputated body parts) arranged on it and many more. The painted grass was fascinating and clever, but my highlight was a bright blue half-body, with coloured upright sheets in the head area, a blue bollard set a little way in front of it and a pyramid of brass coil behind (that may or may not be a polished turd) which was all based on Hieronymus Bosch's 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' (Non-Earthly Delights). I would happily make space in my garden for that.

Ent Non Earthly DelightsWe spent more than an hour and a half looking at all the sculptures, critiquing, admiring, being confused (clearly none of us are refined art experts), laughing, reading all the long, multi-syllable words that were scattered across most of the descriptions and Googling some of the references.  Although we understood it, I've since confirmed that matrilineal is a real word. Unsurprisingly, we each liked different pieces, but it was a very enjoyable visit for all.

We then headed to the Wetherspoons pub by Baker Street station and managed to get two large tables next to each other, so we were all seated together. After a pleasant, leisurely lunch, we went our separate ways.

Jill S.  20th October 2024

Seeing Both Sides

 Sand

 Lightning Rod

 Photos by Jill S.