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Posts Tagged ‘Hampstead’

London Bundle: Parks & Recreation Ramble

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

The weather is SO gorgeous outside, my recommended day-touring on a day like this would be to head North.  Catch the Northern Line to either Archway or Highgate tube stations and catch the afternoon tour at Highgate Cemetery.  You can tour the East cemetery on your own for £3, seeing notable graves such as that of Karl Marx, then partake in the guided tour of the cemetery’s atmospherically overgrown West cemetery, also the resting place of reputable people such as the Rossetti family.  Under the shade of the immense trees (a few of which are Redwoods from America’s West coast), you’ll meander through the lush vegetation and look on the chipped and eroded outcroppings of Victorian-style gravestones; perhaps the most unexpected part of this tour is the “Egyptian Avenue,” crypts fashioned after ancient Egyptian burials, which was the vogue thing to do in 19th-century England, evidently.

From Highgate Cemetery, you are in walking distance of the nearly 800 green acres of Hampstead Heath.  Tour this immense park at your leisure, hiking the hills, sitting by the duck ponds, or even swimming in the designated human ponds :)   A great pub located just outside the Northwest edge of the heath is the Spaniards Inn, where you don’t yet have to forego the outdoors when you seat yourself in the sunshine of their beergarden.  Otherwise, make your way to the high street for any assortment of sidewalk cafes and boutiques.  From here, you can hop the tube at either Hampstead or Belsize Park stations.

Depending on how your day is progressing, you can close it out here or perhaps take advantage of the extended summer daylight hours and make your way to the darling village of Primrose Hill (via tube to Chalk Farm or walking) for dinner and to watch the sunset from Primrose Hill itself, which, like Hampstead Heath, offers an outstanding city view.

This is a trek that not many tourists make, but when you actually move to London, make a point to explore these serene, residential Northern villages.

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London Moves Outdoors

Monday, April 12th, 2010

Aaaahhh…London has been rescuscitated back to life with the onset of real Spring weather.  Hurray!  I honestly have to laugh at myself and how much I comment on the weather here in our blog and on Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Hopefully that’s not a sign of how boring I’m becoming—if it is, then it applies to everyone else I know here.  I think talking about the weather is mandatory for local residents; you’ll see for yourself if and when you’re relocating to London.

The logic is as such:  increasing duration of daylight + higher proportion of that daylight that is sunshine + warmer temperatures = an awakening of the senses, rotation of the wardrobe, and overall higher motivation to get out there and do everything worthwhile doing outdoors.  I, for one, went for a wander yesterday with my husband over to Battersea Park, just south of the Thames from Chelsea.  This substantial bit of green space gets overshadowed by more touristed parks like Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James’s Park, so I recommend it as a more local spot of tranquility.  One can rent cycles, paddle boats, and row boats there, visit the children’s zoo and pagoda, play cricket, tennis, and other favorite sports, or just lie about on the flat expanses or little hills and watch the dogs dart about at full speed while the herons stand perfectly still.  Not too far a walk toward the main roundabout is a relaxed pub named The Masons Arms that offers a healthy menu, unlike most pubs, and provides a low-key place to chat or read amid good music and local artwork.  The walk across Albert Bridge in itself is a treat (though mind the construction that is presently diverting motor traffic).

I’m also in the midst of brainstorming our next London Living social, tentatively scheduled for later this month.  Sunshine and ever-greener trees makes me yearn for pints in a proper biergarten, so some possibilities I’ve offered up to our Londonistas are the The Spaniards Inn in Hampstead and Stein’s Bavarian Restaurant in Richmond for a chance to visit non-central areas with great charm.  For something more central, there is Henry J. Bean’s on the Kings Road in Chelsea.  I actually just hung out there on Saturday after the Grand National horse race; while the interior of the venue as well as its menu are blatantly American-inspired, it does have a large and atmospheric beer garden in the back.  Another hot spot you might hit for enjoying your libations out of doors would be the Ice Wharf in Camden, located right on the canal—this one comes highly recommended by my colleague :)

Whatever meets your fancy outside this Spring, make sure your indoor space does as well by entrusting your London flat-search to London Relocation Ltd.

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London Locations: Hampstead

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

This semi-sunny, on the cusp of Spring day compels me to recommend a lovely spot in Northern London where you might fancy living if you’re moving to London, or to at least visit:  Hampstead.  Maintaining a village atmosphere, this area experienced population growth during the Victorian age, to which many of its quaint buildings date back.  It is known as an artistic and literary haven, and no doubt Hampstead Heath has provided much of such inspiration over the centuries.  Nearly 800 acres in size, the Heath is an immense bounty of green space to be had in London.  With its wooded trails, open, rolling meadows and ponds, it’s a tranquil retreat from urban life that is easily accessible from the city center.  Even just strolling through the pristine, postcard-perfect residential streets is a calming treat that takes you back to another era.  One particular home of interest in Hampstead is Keats House, where the poet lived from 1818 to 1820 and wrote some his most notable poems, including “Ode to a Nightingale.”  The Spaniards Inn, which Keats himself liked to frequent (as did Lord Byron) alleges that this poem was written in its gardens; whether true or not, I highly recommend this pub as a stop for food and libations.  It has a charming beer garden, and whilst sitting there you can revel in its history–it dates back to the 16th-century and is even mentioned in classic literature like Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

It’s true that this is a very expensive neighborhood to live in, so if it’s a bit outside of your budget, you can content yourself that London Relocation Ltd. will place you in a lovely locale that meets all your needs and will be close enough to public transport so you can catch the Tube to visit Hampstead whenever you want–take the Northern Line to either Belsize Park or Hampstead stations and step right onto the high street to delight in its cute boutiques and cafes.

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