Greenwich Park – 14/08/11

For all my fear of the countryside, it is nice to go outside London for some fresh air once in a while. Somewhere green, quaint and civilised. Like Greenwich.

Ok, so we got the Jubilee line there and then a bus but still it felt like a different world (not surprising, given we got onto the tube at Bond St). So green and lovely. Walking back from the park it felt like we were in a seaside town in Dorset (ye olde pubs, a little ice cream shop, the British fish n chips shop) and it was quite strange to look up and see Canary Wharf. Nathan’s boss lives in Greenwich and he’s decided to start teasing her about being a country girl. I gave him a great joke, which I’ll share with you as long as you promise not to tell her. They work in a finance office so I told Nathan to say…”Hey X, there seems to be a discrepancy in our figures here. You see, I got 20 acres and you got 43…”

Comedy gold, hey? Need me to explain it? No, I won’t.

So, the park itself? Well, it’s massive. You could lose yourself in there quite happily. We were at a birthday picnic near the bandstand (as pictured), which seemed to be some kind of toddler magnet. They were all walking around it, climbing onto it and occasionally falling off it (or attempting to.) Not sure what the fascination was but Roo enjoyed playing with it. There was also a group of people playing drums. A lot. I doubt they’re a permanant feature so don’t let that put you off

Wandering through the rest of the park, there was a nice looking teahouse and a flower garden. Near the Observatory there was what appeared to be a huge white canvas structure but it turned out to be the sky. Unusual in London (although we weren’t in London) but there was a massive expanse of sky…and yes, a giant white canvas-looking structure over there a bit. They call it the 02 arena i believe, but it’ll always be the Millenium Dome to me. What I think I’m trying to say (look, I’m struggling here…it’s a Monday morning and I’ve had no caffeine yet) is that Greenwich Park has the most amazing views over London, possibly even better than Hampstead Heath (see here). You come to the end of a road and it looks like the world has just dropped away (and the land pretty much does drop away) and you can see right across the City (as in the Square Mile, not the whole city!) as far as the Shard at the London Bridge (Nathan and Reuben’s half-finished skyscraper of choice, given its proximity to his childminder).  It was awesome and this photo really does nothing to sum it up.

The best part was that we’d got the bus up to the park so hadn’t even had to exert ourselves to get this kind of view. Incidentally, it wasn’t that dark. I just haven’t mastered the camera on my new Blackberry yet.

Roo and Nathan ran down the hill (I followed with buggy), which seemed a lot of fun. Then we wandered back towards the edge of the park, completely missing the playground as we did it. I was convinced – on the basis of a half remembered map – that it was in the north-west corner of the park. While we found the north-west corner, we failed to find the playground, being situated as it was in the north-east. Never mind. It’s a good excuse to return at some point and finish this review.

Home then, via the Thames clipper which Roo enjoyed at first and then got a bit frustrated with as he realised he wasn’t allowed out on the front deck or to steer the boat. Still, he enjoyed looking out of the windows at all the other boats. Definitely the civilised way to get back to London from the countryside!

More details here (official website)