Early wake up and a lovely day...

Must be some sort of record for me. Today marks the beginning of the fourth month of my daily blog. More than 90 days’ worth so far.

We’ve got a digital thermometer/clock in our lounge and at about midnight I discovered that it has an alarm clock in it too. I was lying in bed thinking that I was listening to a car alarm. Took me a little while to realise where it was coming from. Worse still, I discovered that not only is there an alarm clock on the gadget, but that what I thought was the off button was actually a snooze button. So I had to get up again about ten minutes later. Found the off button that time.

Absolutely beautiful day today as predicted. So off we went, sammies packed and printed direction in hand. Easy run by oveground and train to Hampstead Station for a walking tour.

The station itself is interesting as it is the deepest underground staion in London, and the ticket hall retains its original olive green decorative tiling.

 

Many of the street names such as Well Walk, Flask Lane and  Well Passage reflect the fact that there was once a local well that produced iron rich water. In the 17^th century people came to drink the water or buy bottles of it from a local hostelry now appropriately called The Flask Tavern. There was also a public bath house or spa that was run as a charity for the poor of the area.

We walked around the streets and found Blue Plaques commemorating several well known historical names. Marie Stopes, a pioneer of birth control, and artist John Constable are among the famous occupants

There is an abundance of different architectural styles and finishings and some pretty crazy chimneys. But the very elegant Fenton House with its well laid out walled garden looked as though it was straight out of a TV drama. We found an ideal spot for our packed lunch. A seat at the end of a gravelled path that will be shaded in the summer by a large wisteria vine. We could imagine the Lady of the manor taking a stroll around the garden with instructions to the servants to serve afternoon tea under the wisteria. From there we looked over the orchard and its immaculately pruned fruit trees. After lunch we took a stroll through said fruit trees and The Man impressed me greatly by pointing out that a couple of the trees were in fact orange trees. That is until he pointed out the small labels attached to the branches.  The interior is very pretty too and the house has a large collection of china and keyboard instruments. 

 

Towards the end of our walk our guide led us to St John’s church and church yard. We found the graves of a few famous people, including actress Kay Kendall and artist John Constable. The Church itself is beautiful. I am always impressed by the absolute stillness that surrounds us when we enter one of these lovely old buildings. The date over the door was 1700 something as was the date on many of the sunshine brightened stained glass windows.