Category: Local

Do Not Resuscitate

The local council, Hammersmith and Fulham, have one department with which I cannot find fault; tree maintenance. They regularly prune the crab apple tree on the pavement outside our house and plant new trees when necessary. Our streetscape would be impoverished without their diligence and care.

Men in White Coats

Chiswick House and its gardens was a private lunatic asylum from 1892 until 1928. Looking at the entrance at Chiswick I’m reminded of Mr Loveday’s Little Outing by Evelyn Waugh.

On Safari

Let’s start small – no, not microscopically tiny – just a small mammal and we will work up to bigger ones. Five of us were having supper in the garden on Monday evening.

150th Birthday

Wash Doctors are back. An operative comes to clean the interior and/or exterior of your car using minimum water. Minimum charge is £18 which sounds like good money for the washer but …

Fabulous Falcons

For more than ten years peregrine falcons have nested on a ledge, part of the roof of Charing Cross Hospital. The best place to see them is from the west end of Margravine Cemetery or from our attic window.

Taranto

This wall in Margravine Cemetery is engraved with some 120 names of those who died serving in the two World Wars and are buried here.

Bertie Goes to Barnes

The Bellews are of Norman stock. We trace our lineage, without using too much imagination, back to the 13th century. Bertie has a fertile imagination claiming he’s mentioned in Greek documents circa 400 BC.

Chiswick House

Just two miles upstream is an architectural gem: Chiswick House. It got a big thumbs up some three years ago in Upstream. Now it’s back on our radar because it is set in 65 acres of gardens.

The Druids’ Oak

The City of London is often dubbed The Square Mile and that’s more or less right – it is 1.2 square miles. But the writ of the City of London extends to a further 10,000 acres of public green spaces: Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest, etc.