Take in the view from One Tree Hill

One Tree Hill, in South London, is a park which as the name suggests, is atop a pretty little hill, overlooking Peckham and South London, which has led a varied life, and was famously once a picnic spot for Elizabeth I.


The hill stands five miles south of London Bridge, largely wooded in an area which would have once formed part of the famous Great North Wood, and offering views out from strategically placed holes in the canopy towards Central London.

The hill is, apparently famous for attracting artists to paint its scenes, but its strategic position also attracted the Honorable East India Company, who used it as one of a chain of semaphore stations during the Napoleonic Wars, in order to signal vessels in the English Channel from Central London. It was also used as a gun emplacement During the First World War.

For more on the hill, visit http://www.onetreehill.org.uk/

Take a yoga class at the Maha Lakshmi Vidya Bhavan

Meeting in a Mandir which opened on 9/9/1999 in Honor Oak Park, by a group of Hindus who had been meeting in South East London since Diwali 1982, the Maha Lakshmi Vidya Bhavan is a Hindu temple which backs onto One Tree Hill.


They formed to promote and uplift Hinduism in the United Kingdom, and they also offer weekly Yoga classes from 7.30pm until 8.30pm on Tuesdays. Led by Kate Mckenzie, they are designed to ensure spinal alignment, physical co-ordination, enhancing muscle strength and general suppleness, and apparently demonstrate the physical and mental benefits of this ancient technique of the union of the mind, body and soul.

Your author has never been, but the temple is very attractive, and the musical website is very relaxing. However, it is unclear whether the next class is tonight or next week, so be sure to check before travelling. For more information, visit http://www.mahalakshmi.net/ and click on education.