Wander in Harleyford Road Community Gardens

Formally laid out in the late 1980s, on a patch of ground which local residents had adopted to grow vegetables in 1984, the Harleyford Road Community Garden is a pretty little garden just up the road from the Oval.


The garden is, we are told, created and maintained by residents, and divided into several areas including a wildlife area, pond and a playground, as well as mosaic pathways and even a mosaic bench.

For more information, see visit http://londonist.com/2011/07/nature-ist-harleyford-road-and-bonnington-square.php

Take the Ice Age Tree Trail

Found in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, beside the Imperial War Museum, the Ice Age Trees project takes visitors on a walk around 34 species of trees, all of which date from the retreat of the ice after the last ice age.


Designed by Trees for Cities, with support from Southwark Borough Council, it dates from 2003 in its present incarnation, though many of the trees are earlier.

For more on the park, click here

Go to Notting Hill Carnival

Over in West London today, the main day of one of the world's largest street parties is taking place, with thousands of performers putting on a brilliant show.


Started in 1964, the carnival generally attracts up to a million people to party in the streets, and often draws up to twenty miles of parades, scores of sound systems, thousands of volunteers and up to a million revellers.

For more, see http://www.nottinghill-carnival.co.uk/

_{^Picture © SPakhrin used under Creative Commons^}

Go to an Alternative Village Fete

Artists, craftmakers and producers gather at the National Theatre today for an alternative village fete organised by Home Live Art.


Alongside the stalls there will, we are told, also be music and games 

for all ages from 1pm until 5pm, and again tomorrow.

For more, see http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2011/08/25/the-alternative-village-fete/

Stroll along Anchor Iron Wharf

Just outside Maritime Greenwich, and now home to an odd housing development, the views North from Anchor Iron Wharf towards Canary Wharf and the Millennium Dome are fantastic.


A large anchor records how the history of the land which now forms the wharf, from King Edgar, who granted it to the abbey of St Peters, Ghent in 964, to Charles Robinson, who moved to the wharf in 1953, trading scrap iron, lead, metal and glass.

For more, see http://www.thegreenwichphantom.co.uk/2009/02/anchor-iron-wharf/

Borrow books from Durning Library

Some people complain it is boring when your author features libraries, but they just don't understand. As an example, Durning Library in Kennington is housed in a beautiful building, designed by S Sidney RJ Smith, the architect of the Tate Gallery, and lends books out for free.


Opened in 1889, as one of the first public libraries in Lambeth, the Library is still open today six days a week at its premises on Kennington Lane. It was founded by Jemina Durning Smith, the sister-in-law of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, a Library Commissioner.

One notable feature of the library is a small bookcase in the entrance hall, containing a collection of books donated by Wanda Newby, wife of the late travel writer Eric Newby, who lived locally. It's very interesting.

For more on the library, see http://landmark.lambeth.gov.uk/display_page.asp?section=landmark&id=1311

Visit the Royal Tank Regiment Memorial

Located on the corner of Whitehall Court and Whitehall Place, in Westminster, the Royal Tank Regiment Memorial was unveiled by the Queen in June 2000. The sculpture was designed by Vivien Mallock, based on a miniature by George Henry Paulin.


It depicts the crew of a Comet tank, used during the Second World War. A plaque explains that each crew consisted of five men - a commander, a loader, a gunner, a driver and a hull machine gun loader.

Your author was introduced to the memorial by John Kennedy, author of the informative London Bollards blog, and is very grateful for this. For more information, see http://www.royaltankregiment.com/en-GB/rtrmemorialstatue.aspx

Browse at Greenwich Printmakers

The Greenwich Printmakers Gallery is run by the Greenwich Printmakers Association, founded in 1979 and still providing a permanent gallery space in Greenwich Market to display many prints, available for sale in the gallery.


As with all these things, there are some excellent prints available and some a little more questionable in style and taste, but they will all appeal to someone, and it is at least an achievable way to buy some art. Plus it's right beside Greenwich Market which makes it a great place to browse as part of a wander around the wider market.

For more information, and full contact details, see http://www.greenwich-printmakers.org.uk/

Take the kids paddling in Cock Pond

Apparently named after a pub called the Cock, on the site of what was previously a nice pub called the Frog and Forget-me-not, and is now a generic characterless pub called the Frog, Cock Pond is a children's paddling pool, on the North side of Clapham Common.


Unlike the older ponds on the common, Cock Pond in its present incarnation is a relatively new construction. Mount Pond, one of the other Clapham Common ponds, was famously where that Benjamin Franklin conducted scientific experiments, pouring oil on troubled waters and observing the results.

For more on Clapham Common, and Cock Pond, see http://www.localhistories.org/clapham.html

Take a Boris Bike on a trip out

Though they may soon be given more freedom, life for the first year or so has been a fairly sad existence for a Boris Bike, riding on short hops in Zone One, choked by Central London smog. Though the hire charges do start to ramp up a bit when you extend your session, it feels humane to liberate our little blue friends for a longer trip.



Over the weekend your author accepted an invitation from Ian, owner of the eternally interesting Ian Visits website, to abandon his yellow bike and take two lucky Boris bikes on the Eurostar to Paris. Eurostar operator does provide a useful bike transfer service on its trains, and our bikes were accompanied by lighter touring bikes being taken for continental cycling holidays.


The bikes seemed to thorougly enjoy their trip out, visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Notre Dame and the Place de la Concorde on a loop around the city, and even allowing their riders time for a pleasant lunch in a pavement cafe. It was a lovely day out, and though the combination of heavy bikes, French cobbles and the heat meant a couple of stops were needed along the way, it was well worth the effort. One of them even found time for a little romance during the trip.

Your author must thank Ian for using his Eurostar tickets, organising the bike transfer, and for having the idea to liberate the bikes for a day. If you do decide to follow the lead of Ian and other intrepid bike liberators, be sure to keep an eye on the hire charges, to ensure you don't get a shock at bank statement time.

For a full report on the trip, head over to http://ianvisits.co.uk/

Attend the London Honey Festival

This afternoon from 1pm to 5pm, beekeepers from around the capital are gathering at the Royal Festival Hall, on the South Bank, for a festival of London honey, and you are invited!


It's being billed as an opportunity to meet your local beekeeper, taste honey, and even buy a jar or two of local honey. At a time when beekeeping is undergoing a renaissance, it sounds like a great idea, for everyone except the bees.

For more, see http://www.bbka.org.uk/news_and_events/london_honey_festival

_{^Picture © Mark Hillary used under Creative Commons^}

Do the Queen's Head treasure hunt

The Queen's Head, in Brook Green, is a decent little pub with a nice beer garden out the back. Today, it is hosting one of its regular treasure hunts, from 11am to 3pm.

The hunt takes place around the local area and costs £10 per person, including morning coffee and lunch. Teams of four to six are suggested.

For more information, see http://adventurequizzes.com/treasurequest/

Drink at South London Pacific

Your author constantly bores friends talking about how "there is in London, all that life can afford", and this even boils down to questionable theme pubs, like the South Pacific themed bar just around the corner from Oval tube station.


It's quite a fun bar, but one has to ask how and why the owners came up with their plan to 'bring a slice of tiki paradise' to SE11. Whatever the reasoning behind it, it continues to operate, fairly successfully and is certainly worth a visit at some point. Your author enjoyed his last trip there, but thinks it might have been a few years ago now...

For more, see http://www.southlondonpacific.com/

Drink at the Plume of Feathers

A fantastic pub on the edge of Greenwich Park, the Plume of Feathers dates back as far as 1691, when kings and queens walked just over the wall in the Royal Park.


Today, it is a great little pub which attracts locals and the more discerning tourist, offering food and good ales served from an attractive central bar, by polite and friendly staff.

It all makes for a lovely atmosphere, with the one caveat that Sunday evening double G&Ts with old friends should be avoided by those looking for a quick walk home, and a productive Monday.

For more, see http://plumeoffeathers-greenwich.co.uk/

_{^Picture © Sam Kelly used under Creative Commons^}

Eat at Whole Foods

Your author prides himself on his up to date articles, so a mere three years after it opened in High Street Kensington, he finally found time to pop down to American Whole Foods, for a spot of lunch.


The result is a shop downstairs, which sells food and that sort of thing, and a not-too-horrendously priced food court upstairs, which is a cross between Harrods Food Hall and Tebay Services, on the M6. It was fine, and worth popping into if you're in a rush, but it is unlikely to change the world.

For more information, see http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/kensington/