Meet: Wanstead Station, at 18.30 hours. Wanstead is a station on
the Hainault loop of the Central Line in Zone 4. Travel time from Oxford Circus
is 27 minutes, and from Liverpool Street 17 minutes.
Leafy stroll in the Borough of Redbridge through the Grade II* listed historic
landscaped parkland of Wanstead Park, once home to the Palladian mansion of
Wanstead House, compared at the time to Blenheim Palace. Today only two smaller
structures, The Grotto and The Temple, remain (and the House itself stood on
what is now a golf course), but nevertheless the present smaller park retains
some of the layout of Wanstead House’s grounds, especially its many ponds, and
provides a perfect venue for relaxing and escaping the urban sprawl, with its
plentiful water features and varied woods, famous for their bluebell displays
in season.
The park closes ‘at dusk’.
Eat/Drink: Plenty of options near the station. See the webpage for
details.
For walk directions, map, photos, and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.11
2 comments:
Very good display by all accounts
4 SWC regulars plus a locally living sister of one of them started the walk, later joined by 1 other who had started from the Wanstead Common side (off the Liz Line), so n=6 on a w=lovely-evening
We decided to reverse the normal routing so to get to the bluebell wood (Chalet Wood) while the sun still had good power and that was a good decision, as the wood was quite mesmerising indeed. Sensational, really.
We stayed there a few minutes but then moved on along the route, in reverse. The local intel could enlighten us on the works going on at the Folly (money has been found to restore it and there are plans for a cafe being put it) and on the reason for the main pond having emptied of water over the last 3 or so years (a suspected leak in the lining of the pond borders).
At the end, we were ready to test the ex Spoons, The George, right by the station, but they had no table free, so we went to Luppolo, an Italian. And how lovely that was? Very good food, interesting interiors, friendly staff, and as we were just about ready to pay and leave, a 2 for 1 cocktails deal was announced!
A very good evening out.
And best of luck to one of ours walking the Machu Picchu Trail from next week...
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