Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit, #5: Dennis Severs’ House

We take a break from your regular broadcast of photo-heavy MOBPA goodness (seriously, I hope it’s been enjoyable, because it was one of my own favourite destinations) to bring you another installment of Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit, #5: Dennis Severs’ House.

Dennis Severs’ House is, as far as I can gather, like Sir John Soane’s Museum, but less hodgepodge and more thematically defined. It’s basically a house where each of the ten rooms have been painstakingly decked out in items and decor from different time periods between 1724 and 1914, and on top of that, the house itself is a full-on sensory experience – textures, smells, and sounds abound. Visitors are invited to come and experience it all much as they would step through a time capsule, suspending disbelief. You enter each room to find it as if the inhabitants had just departed in a hurry.

It sounds amazing, and I really wanted to go, but they have very odd and clearly defined opening times with different admission prices depending on when you go, and I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it all. So I decided to file it away for another time.

Dennis Severs’ House
18 Folgate Street
Spitalfields
London E1 6BX

Filed under: miscellaneous

Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit, #4: Ruislip Lido

This is the one place on my Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit list that I don’t think I will ever get round to visiting, simply because it is so far away, and so inconvenient to get there. But you have no idea how I wish I could.

Located way, way out in West London, Ruislip Lido, formerly a canal reservoir, has been transformed into something that apparently looks like this:

I’m aware that this picture is probably Ruislip Lido on an uncommonly sunny day (which happens once every leap year in London) and that it doesn’t always look like that, but by all accounts, this is the closest thing that London has to a beach-like area without you having to hop out to Brighton. Granted, Brighton probably has a better beach, but it’s also a lot more touristy.

The highlight of the area is the Ruislip Lido Railway, which started operations around 1945 as part of the leisure facilities at Ruislip Lido. It follows a lovely, scenic route from the beach through Ruislip Woods, which in 1997 became the first National Nature Reserve in Greater London, and are so old they’re recorded in the Domesday Book in 1068.

I would really, really love to visit this area. Unfortunately, getting there by public transport is a nightmare. One day, maybe… when I return to the UK 20 years later, and can afford to rent a car.

Filed under: miscellaneous, ruislip lido, ruislip woods

Greenwich – a brief detour

I feel like I have to spend some time dwelling on Greenwich, although we didn’t spend much time there that particular day and it’s arguably a very well-known area that needs no promotion. But most visitors to London whom I’ve met don’t bother going to Greenwich simply because it’s hard to get to (the DLR is VERY annoying, I grant). And that’s a real shame, because Greenwich has so much to offer.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

That’s the Royal Observatory (on a cloudy day), famously home of the Prime Meridian and probably the single biggest reason people come to visit Greenwich – it was for me, a couple of years ago, especially now that Cutty Sark is undergoing major restoration works following a fire. The Observatory is worth a visit, but don’t forget to spend some time in the surrounding Greenwich Park while you’re there, because the view from the top is magnificent.

Greenwich town centre, other than hosting a covered market 5 days a week, is that rare pocket of London suburbia that feels like a city without bringing with it the associated crowds, noise, hustle and bustle. Again, if your point of comparison is central London, Greenwich is an absolute breath of fresh air. It’s really pretty, and feels a lot slower-paced, but not remote or backward. It’s one of the corners of this city that I keep telling myself I have to go back to one day just for the sake of it.

Filed under: miscellaneous, greenwich

Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit, #3: The Fan Museum

The Fan Museum is one of those attractions that sound completely uninteresting when you first hear about them. Why on earth would anyone want to go look at a bunch of fans? How different can fans possibly look throughout the years anyway? And why do I care? (At least, that’s what I thought.)

The more I read about it though, the more interested I got. I can’t say I’m particularly excited about fans as an object, but I must admit they can be very pretty. And antique ones, of which the museum’s collection is largely comprised, are especially pretty. It’s also devoted to the art of fan-making and traces the various uses of fans throughout the years, from ceremonial to commercial to practical. This museum is home to the world’s most significant and valuable collection of fans, fan leaves, and related material, with the oldest fan dating from the 10th century.

It has a permanent exhibition as well as a regular rotation of temporary exhibitions, as not all their fans can be displayed at the same time for conservation reasons. The current temporary exhibition is of Biblical fans from the 17th century to present. I’m actually really quite interested, so I’m going to try and get myself down to Greenwich again before 31 May to visit.

The Fan Museum
12 Crooms Hill,
Greenwich
London SE10 8ER

Filed under: miscellaneous

Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit, #2: Columbia Road Flower Market

While we’re talking markets – the Columbia Road Flower Market, which is Place I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit #2, was originally on my itinerary. It’s actually really near this area (walkable from Old Street station) and it’s something different, for a market. Most I see to tend to be full of food, crafts, or bizarre eclectic items (read: Camden Lock market). With the advent of spring I figured it’d be a good time to visit a flower market, so I was really disappointed to find that it was only open on Sundays from 9-12. Talk about a narrow window of time…

(Picture credit: Wikimedia)

There’s actually a range of shops and other things to do at Columbia Road, but the flower market seems to be the highlight. There were signs pointing the way to the flower market, so I’m guessing it’s one of those things that’s juuust on the verge of becoming touristy. Anyway, they’ve got everything from cut flowers to fresh herbs to banana trees (banana trees!). Even though I’m no horticulturalist and every single form of plant life I touch seems to die (singular exception being a pet cactus from York which is still alive and now keeping me company in London), I really would like to go have a look, when I can get there at that unearthly hour on a Sunday.

Filed under: miscellaneous

Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit, #1: Horniman Museum

We interrupt this fascinating tour of Hackney to bring you the first of six (subject to change) in a series of posts creatively entitled “Places I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit”. When researching London’s lesser-known attractions and formulating an itinerary, I accumulated quite a list of places which I would really have liked to see but couldn’t fit into the schedule, whether because they just weren’t geographically practical or because I ran out of time. There were such a number of these that I thought they deserved their own posts.

Place I Regrettably Couldn’t Visit #1 is the Horniman Museum, in Forest Hill, South London.

It’s an eclectic collection of 350,000 specimens and artifacts from round the world, assembled by Victorian tea trader Frederick John Horniman on his travels in the 19th century. It specialises in anthropology, natural history and musical instruments, and its ethnography and music collections have Designated status. The Horniman Museum also has a renowned Aquarium noted for its layout. Best of all, it’s free.

On top of that, you can combine it with a visit to the award-winning Horniman Museum Gardens, which sprawl out over 16 acres of landscaping and look absolutely stunning. They have Grade II listed status with English Heritage.

The more I write about the Horniman Museum the sadder I feel that I wasn’t able to squeeze it in, so I’m definitely, definitely heading back there another day!

Horniman Museum & Gardens
100 London Rd, Forest Hill
London, SE23 3PQ

Filed under: miscellaneous