An Urban Wander around Hampstead, London NW3 (part 2)

Reasonably hot on the heals of part one of my Urban Wander around Hampstead is, as you might expect, part two. This part of the wander features the landscape as I drifted in a south westerly direction in a loose attempt to get back to Paddington. I could easily have spent hours here, looking at each street, alleyway, lane, yard, house and doorway in more detail. The selection below is by no means exhaustive and has whetted my appetite for a return visit, hopefully with a more striking sky.

Ginsberg Yard, Hampstead, London NW3

Golden Yard, Hampstead, London NW3

 Golden Yard, Hampstead, London NW3

I'm always a bit of a sucker for outdoor stairways. Shame about the over exposure on this one but I was taking the picture in to the weak sun. Somehow the view from the top of the stairs didn't look so appealing.

Flight of Stairs, Hampstead, London NW3

Narrow passageway, Hampstead, London NW3

  

A cheeky peak into someone's garden, from the road of course.

View into garden, Hampstead, London NW3

Narrow street, Hampstead, London NW3

Alleyway, Hampstead, London NW3

Holly Berry Lane, Hampstead, London NW3

My favourite of this part of my drift. I'm not sure whether these doors had all been recently painted, or just well looked after, but they were a striking sight on this rather dull day.

Brightly coloured doors, Holly Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

 Holly Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Holly Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

    

An Urban Wander around Hampstead, London NW3 (part 1)

I've not made the trek out from Central London to Hampstead for quite a while now, so with a few hours to spare last week, and still inspired by two of my recent reads, Psychogeography and Edgelands, I hopped on the number 46 bus from Paddington to start my drift. This really was a drift as I had no plans at all as to which way I would wander when I alighted the bus, and I simply walked down whichever street, alley or lane took my fancy. I was also not really sure what I was looking for. Would I see abandonment and ghost signs? Unlikely I thought but as you'll see I stumbled across quite a magnificent ghost sign. And later in the wander as I made my way back to Paddington I found a couple more, but you'll have to wait to a subsequent installment of this post for that. Other than the ghost sign, there's doorways, narrow alleyways and streets, stairways, street lamps and wells, although not all necessarily in the first part.

First up we have a pair of brightly coloured doors. When I started my wander, it was raining slightly and these doors stood out beautifully against the wet, brown brickwork.

Brightly coloured doors, Flask Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Not as bright as the previous doors but there was something I can't quite put my finger on about this one that caught my eye.

Doorway, Hampstead, London NW3

I saw the reverse side of the well first as I approached it from the alleyway behind it. It was not until I was on the return leg that I actually realised it had a front to it as well, and was more than a simple drinking trough.

The back of the Chalybeate Well, Well Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

The Chalybeate Well, Well Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Well, I promised a ghost sign, and this is it. Don't get me wrong, I love trees, but this one was in the wrong place and somewhat spoils the photo. Still, I guess it's only going to get bigger each year, meaning that getting a photo of the complete sign will become harder and harder as the years go by.

THE WELLS AND CAMPDEN BATHS AND WASH HOUSES 1888

No longer a bath house, but apartments I think.

Wells and Campden Bath Houses, Hampstead, London NW3

I have to admit that I am always a bit self-conscious when taking pictures in residential areas and often do not take time to note down the name of the road, so unfortunately this is just a narrow lane in Hampstead.

Narrow street, Hampstead, London NW3

Brightly coloured door, Flask Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

I think I have enough pictures for 3 installments, so I'm going to end part one with a shot looking back along Flask Walk towards Hampstead High Street.

Flask Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Hopefully I'll get the next part of this drift posted later this weekend or early next week.

A big cat in Regent's Park ?

After a manic day in the London office last Wednesday, despite the grim weather I was determined to escape after work and find some space. Wednesday's trip started from Spring Path in Hampstead, which gets a mentioned in the London's Lost Rivers book which I'm half way through, in relation to the River Tyburn. My wanderings took me through a couple of small alleyways and eventually down through Belsize Park, Primrose Hill and on into Regent's Park. The first photo was taken from the top of Primrose Hill overlooking the city. The weather had improved slight;y by this time, but the photo is not one of the clearest, which I'll put down to the moody weather.

 With all the recent news about a lion being spotted in Essex, I couldn't resist taking this photo of a wild cat wooden sculpture in Regent's Park.

And further along the route I came across a wooden sculpture of a fox.

Something I always forget about Regent's Park is its size. A couple of times I thought I was about to reach the edge, but was surprised to find yet more park to walk through. Without a train to catch this additional escape time would have been a bonus, but I was worried about missing my train home, so the last few minutes throug hthe park were somewhat hurried, then straight on to a bus back to Paddington in time to get my train.

    

On escapes nearer to home, I have managed quite a few bike rides since returning from holiday. Yesterday I cycled up towards Combe Gibet, near Kintbury. My post holiday fitness still leaves a lot to be desired but I did achieve a personal best on one of the hill climbs, although I should point out that I am still a long way off the rest of the pack ... something to aim for though I guess. At the moment I'm not sure what escapes I can manage next week, particularly as the evenings start drawing in and the opportunity to walk in the light after work becomes restricted.

46 to Farringdon Street

What marvellous weather we are having in the UK at the moment. Yesterday was so warm that I decided to take a trip up to Hampstead Heath after work before I headed back home to the sticks. The 46 dropped me just before Hampstead underground station, but instead of walking on an up on to the Heath, I decided to take a left instead, which took me down past Hampstead Parish Church. Immediately to hustle and bustle of the noisy street disappeared and really I could have been anywhere. Immediately before the church I took another left hand turn which took me down a track called Frognal, which eventually turned into a road, flanked either side by wonderful houses. And the great houses continued pretty much until I arrived at West Hampstead, where the pubs, cafes and bistros were all swarming with people sitting outside enjoying the early Spring weather.

My only regret was forgetting my camera. I did try and find some commons licensed pictures of Hampstead on Flickr but was not very successful, so I'll have to make do with a picture of and a link to this great book about Hampstead (left hand side for UK readers, right hand side for US readers).

From West Hampstead I walked down through Brondesbury, Kilburn to Queens Park, where I discovered a "new road", Lonsdale Road. It's the home to architects, bistros, dance studios, etc., and was a complete surprise to stumble across this and it almost looked out of place. I eventually ended up back at Paddington, somewhat tired but feeling richly rewarded for my evening's endeavours.

More London spaces next week, when hopefully I'll have remembered to take my camera.