Walking with family: Baker Street to Leicester Square... and beyond

Sunday December 22, 2024.

It was a cold late morning as Emma, Keilyn, Erin and her friend Summer and I made our way to the station, ready to take in the Christmas atmosphere of London.

I did give the girls' a mission for the walk. 'The first person to find a dinosaur would be given £1'.

Our first stop, after exiting Baker Street station, was to find somewhere to eat lunch. The girls unanimously voted for KFC, which we found across the road on Baker Street.

Suitably filled we headed south along Baker Street, crossing Oxford Street, until we reached Grosvenor Square. The square was remarkably quiet so we left, via its southeast corner, and headed onto Carlos Place, where we saw The Connaught Christmas tree, our first true Christmas tree of the day.

Continuing along Carlos Place we entered Berkeley Square and Keilyn, who had been slightly ahead of us, came running back to us, demanding £1, as she had found a dinosaur. Sure enough, as we reached the corner of Berkeley Square the cast of a dinosaur stood on a plinth, staring into the heart of the Square. I reached into my pocket and handed over the prize.

After admiring the display at Annabel's Members Only Club, we headed along Bruton Street to New Bond Street, passing the Coach and Horses pub on the way.

New Bond Street was considerably busier than anywhere else that we had so far visited, due to the ornate displays of the various big names along the street. Boodles, Bvlgari, Cartier, Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren, to name a few. 

The sky, though overcast, was still too light to get the full effect of the lights, but it still brought the feeling and atmosphere of Christmas to us.

Continuing on a light rain began to fall, so we headed into the Burlington Arcade, with its caped Beadles, exiting on Piccadilly, where the Fortnum & Mason building had its usual Advent Calendar display.

For a bit of a respite, Summer had never been on one of our walks, we headed into Waterstones bookshop, where we perused the books.

We then continued along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus and onto Coventry Street, where warm drinks were purchased. Before visiting the Winter Market, which had been erected in Leicester Square, Erin, Summer and I went off to see the various statues of Harry Potter, Bugs Bunny, Batman, etc.. After making a complete circuit, of the square, we met back up with Emma and Keilyn and entered the Winter Market. A few items were purchased, at inflated prices, before we headed off to grab some more snacks and warm food.

Queen Mary's Steps

In the grounds of the Ministry of Defence, on the Victoria Embankment side, there are a set of steps with a buttress and wall.

They are not an old entrance to the basement of the building, which now stands behind, but rather a rebuilt part of a terrace, originally built by Sir Christopher Wren, and were part of Whitehall Palace.

'Physical Energy' by G.F. Watts OM RA

'Physical Energy' in Kensington Gardens.

Walking through Kensington Gardens you will discover this huge bronze equestrian statue, entitled 'Physical Energy'. It stands overlooking the northwest side of the Serpentine and was sculpted by George Frederic Watts OM RA.

Brief History

G.F. Watts had been working on 'Physical Energy' since the early 1880s, and thought of it has a culmination of his work in the field of public sculpture. 

He was asked to cast the bronze as early as 1886, but instead continued work on and modify the gesso model. Watts used equestrian elements of the Elgin Marbles in designing the model.

In 1902 the first full-size cast of the sculpture was made at a foundry in Fulham. It was said to be Britain's largest bronze cast, at the time. Watts gave it to the British government and it was exhibited at Burlington House, in 1904.

It was originally intended to be erected at the burial place of Cecil Rhodes, in Southern Rhodesia, but, due to the costs and logistics of such an undertaking, it was instead made part of the Rhodes Memorial, near Cape Town.

In 1905 a second cast of the sculpture was made at a foundry in Thames Ditton. This second cast was more refined and took 18 months to finish. In September 1907 the 6 ton cast was unveiled at Kensington Gardens.

Two more full-size sculptures were created, each differing slightly. 

The third bronze was displayed in front of the High Court building, Lusaka, Zambia. However, after a few moves, it was finally moved to its current position, outside the National Archives, Harare, in 1981.

The fourth full-size sculpture was cast in 2017, using a new mould from the original model. It was commissioned by the Watts Gallery to mark the 200th anniversary of Watts's birth. It was displayed in the courtyard of the Royal Academy, before being permanently installed at Watts Gallery Artists’ Village.

Smaller bronzes were aloso cast throughout the years and sold. Some can be seen in various art galleries, around the country. 

Postman's Park, City of London

Entering Postman's Park from the St Martin Le Grand entrance.

Postman's Park is one of those hidden gems that I love to visit.

Despite it's proximity to the Museum of London, it was always a quiet place to visit, with tourists either not knowing about it, or simply ignoring this little oasis.

Now that the Museum of London has closed, it is moving to Smithfields, I expect that even fewer people, except those in the know, will visit this wonderful place.

Postman's Park fountain.

I think another of the reasons that many people aren't aware of Postman's Park is the entrances. 

The St Martin Le Grand's entrance, with its iron gate, looks like you are entering a churchyard, which, I suppose, you are.

The King Edward Street entrance, on the other hand, gives more away, but it still doesn't reveal everything that awaits those who enter the park.

Walking with family: Westminster to Lambeth... and beyond

Tuesday December 10, 2024.

With a week off from work, and my girls being in school, I decided on a trip to London, inviting my mum and my uncle Martin along. Unfortunately my um couldn't make it, so it was just Martina and I that made the trip.

Martin drove us to Croxley station, where we caught a Metropolitan line train to Finchley Road, where we changed to a Jubilee line train to complete our journey to Westminster station.

On exiting the station we headed across Westminster Bridge, dodging the hordes of tourists that often congregate here as they jostle to get their perfect photo of the Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben. Crossing to the east side of the bridge we headed down the steps, beside St Thomas' Hospital and the Covid Memorial Wall, heading along the Albert Embankment to our first stop of the day... the Garden Museum.

The Garden Museum is situated at the western end of Lambeth Road, next to Lambeth Palace, and is housed within the old St Mary-at-Lambeth church. The church closed in 1972 and was due foe demolition, but was saved, reopening in 1977 as the world's first Gardening Museum.

After a brief look around the small garden, we entered the church and began looking at the building and its exhibits. After a quick look around we purchased tickets and made our way up the 131 steps of the tower, to check out the view.

And what a view it was. Being beside the River Thames the view allowed for views along the river towards Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station. The Palace of Westminster and Lambeth Palace were great from this vantage point, which then allowed you to gaze across to the City of London, The Shard and Canary Wharf.

Suitably impressed with the view we made our way back down the tower and went off to the Garden Museum cafe to grab a coffee. Once we were refreshed, and suitably warmed up from being outside in the wind, we continued our tour of the museum. 

William Bligh's tomb and the Tradescant family tomb were situated in a small garden area, with its plant nursery and other graves. We visited the Ark gallery and the other various rooms and galleries. The shop had everything horticultural, but there were no books or leaflets on the history of the church itself. Fortunately, one of the volunteers at the shop informed us about a 'magic pink folder', held at the main reception, which contained lots of information. 

So, making our way to the main reception, we asked to view this 'magic pink folder'. It was stuffed with pages about the building, its history, various graves, snippets of information all gleaned from various sources. The lady at reception was more than happy for us to take photos of various pages, which we did. After reading what we wanted we returned the 'magic pink folder' to reception, thanked the lady and made our way outside, ready to continue our walk.

We headed down Lambeth Road, passing the Novotel Hotel, which was once Norfolk House, home of the Howard family. This hotel is next to the Bell Building, which stands on the site of the Bell Inn, which was built in 1560.