As the population of London grew during the 19th century (from just under 2 million in 1801 to just over 6 million in 1897) the need for more clean, fresh water became urgent. The Victorian planners’ answer was to develop the already boggy land around the River Lea in east London into reservoirs. The first …
Hampstead Heath
Christmas at Jackson’s Lane
Straddling the borders of Highgate and Haringey on the Archway Road, is the Jackson’s Lane Arts Centre, originally a Wesleyan Methodist church built in 1902. Since the 1970s however, it has been a largely volunteer run arts centre, nurturing dance, circus and theatrical talent (alumni include Eddie Izzard and David Walliams) while running a collection …
The Elms in Fitzroy Park – all is revealed….
Those of you who followed this blog during the first days of lockdown last year may remember my post about The Elms, a rather grand house in Fitzroy Park. It had been in a sad state of disrepair in the 1990s when I first came across it (indeed, it had got onto the ‘buildings at …
Working with Heath Hands
I would hesitate to say that the steamingly hot mug of tea and handful of biscuits that you get half way through your gardening session (here being dispensed by the lovely Ash in the Hill Garden) is the main attraction of working with Heath Hands – but it certainly puts a kick in your spade! …
Save our water voles!
Any of you Wind in the Willows fans? If so I am sure you will know that Ratty (seen here chortling away with Mole in Philip Mendoza’s delightful sketch) was a water vole, not really a rat at all although water voles were often called water rats – or water dogs! But Ratty’s descendants are …
Funghi
I came across these images of funghi that I had found while out and about around the heath over the last few weeks – and wanted to share. Most had vanished within 48 hours, often within 24.