Hammersmith

Weather - Cloudy and cold - Min 6, Max 15

We avoided today’s two major protests in London along with the FA Cup Final by taking the District Line west to Richmond. We left the flat at 9.30am and we were in Richmond by 9.55am. We love the efficient and frequent rail service. 

Richmond, an elegant area, is the main location where the popular television series ‘Ted Lasso’ was filmed. On the plane to the UK Henk and I watched the entire series of ‘Ted Lasso’ for the first time and really enjoyed it. Richmond has embraced the series and there is a souvenir shop dedicated to him and organised walking tours to the many location sites. The lovely traditional pub, ‘The Prince’s Head’ known as ‘Crown and Anchor’ in the series is a popular photo location.

We walked to the Thames River and had morning tea on a boat with large umbrellas. It was the only time the sun came out. Years ago we took a canal boat under the Richmond Bridge to Hampton Court where we moored overnight before proceeding onto Windsor and Oxford. We had a good view of the bridge from our cafe table. We could have hired a little rowing boat for £12 for an hour but we were keen to get to Kew Gardens.

Before catching the bus we passed a recently opened Ottolenghi restaurant and it was packed. There was a range of delicious looking cakes including enormous meringues in the window.

We caught the bus from Richmond for the short trip east to Kew Gardens. The weather was quite chilly and very overcast but we were lucky as it didn’t rain during our visit and we were able to stroll through the different extensive gardens. We initially took a small train through the major areas to get our bearings and decide on which places we wanted to spend more time. There was an informative commentary given by the driver which was useful. 

Kew Gardens has many eating places and we chose the large Orangery for a roast lunch. It was hard to believe that the building was built in 1761. We ate inside the large, cosy light-filled building while the hardy ones sat outside.

Near to the Orangery is Kew Palace, the smallest palace in the UK sitting on the banks of the Thames River. It was the royal retreat of King George III and Queen Charlotte. We viewed the many rooms and it certainly is a small palace in comparison to the others we have seen on thsi trip. The palace is surrounded by beautiful gardens. At the rear of the palace is a garden of low hedges and overhanging vines.

There was so much to see it would take many visits to cover all that there is to see. We visited the humid Temperate House, the world’s largest surviving Victorian glass structure and climbed the old wrought iron steps to a viewing walkway. 

The final visit was to the Treetop Walkway which is 18m off the ground. We caught the lift to the top instead of climbing the stairs as Henk wasn’t sure if he would cope with the height. He then could get back into the lift and get back onto secure ground if needed. However, Henk was fine and we walked around the 200m walkway overlooking the gardens and over the canopy of trees.

Throughout the gardens are Henry Moore’s sculptures which was a bonus as it’s a special exhibition called ‘Henry Moore: Monumental Nature’ and is the largest collection of Moores’ work ever displayed outdoors.

Every two minutes planes flew low over the gardens preparing to land at nearby Gatwick Airport.

I had the bright idea of catching the bus back to Hammersmith despite it taking an hour instead of the 20 mins by train. I thought it would be a good to see all that was above the ground. Unfortunately without explanation the bus stopped 20 mins from the Hammersmith bus station and we were told we would have to walk the rest of the way. Everyone obliged without complaint. We think they must be used to it. 

We arrived home at 5.00pm and we weren’t hungry after the large roast lunch so it was toasted sandwiches for us again. As I wrote the blog I watched the protests on the news. It certainly was the day not to be anywhere near central London.