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Richmond

This was a rather odd day to say the least. I decided that it was beautiful and sunny, therefore I must do something outdoorsy. One of my guide books informed me that Richmond has the biggest wild park in London, if not England, which sounded exactly like what I felt like doing - prancing around a forest with wild deer.

In typical London fashion, I buy my travel card extension for the day, get on the platform to wait for my train to Richmond, and discover there is no tube running to Richmond. Instead, I get on the replacement bus service, which in itself is not a bad thing, you're above ground, so you get to see the area and all that. However, there is also traffic above ground, making the journey somewhat slower and longer than the tube ride.

All this meant that I ended up having to shorten my trip to Richmond by about 3 hours, leaving me without enough time to prance around with Bambi. But, it was not a complete loss, as the pictures will show, Richmond is both beautiful and peaceful - once you've fought your way off the high street.

 

This is the Richmond Bridge. I basically walked along the river bank, trying to take in the riverside culture. What you don't see here are the other boats, those that are privately owned, and the houses along the river bank. The bank I walked along was flanked by stately homes, restaurants and tourist ferries. The opposite bank was dotted with small river-side community homes and boats, which made me imagine that these people still live off the river, as well as next to it. I just loved this building, or these buildings. The entrance on the right leads into the Richmond theatre and the left leads into the town library. It just never ceases to amaze me how important culture is in this country. Richmond is not a big town by any stretch of the imagination, yet it has a suitably old and ornate building, housing its own theatre, to rival those in the West End.

 

This is taken in the grounds of the Church of St Mary Magdalene. This funny little church completely blew me away. It was squeezed in between terraced houses, shops and office buildings, and its front entrance was largely hidden by construction clutter. If I hadn't got myself a little disoriented (are you surprised ?) I would never have looked twice at it.

In its grounds are tombs and crypts housing dead people with 'Lord' and 'Lady' prefixing their names. The light, the leaves, the squirrels and this silent resting place absolutely fascinated me.

11 October 2003