LONDON A-Z
I'm three letters into my alphabetical romp through London's unsung suburbs and already suffering from buyer's remorse. Yes I've picked three intriguing locations so far, but just think where I could have gone instead.
For A I considered Albany Park but decided against because I'm trying, where possible, to avoid places with stations. I could have blogged interestingly about Addiscombe or Addington, but both have tram stops which makes them too well known. I was tempted by Arkley but I'd blogged its semi-visible windmill and water tower before. I could have run with Ardleigh Green but wasn't sure I could get enough words out of it. I definitely considered Aperfield but it's debatable where it stops being Biggin Hill. In the end I plumped for Aldborough Hatch and I'm pretty content with that choice. But I very very nearly went to Aldersbrook because it's the epitome of a large off-the-radar settlement.
A is for Aldersbrook
About 5000 people live in Aldersbrook, a Redbridge suburb that's easy to define because it's entirely surrounded by grassland. To the south are Wanstead Flats, to the north is Wanstead Park and to the east is the River Roding, or rather a smaller stream with a name you can probably guess. The Alders Brook is a mile-long braid of the Roding, a thinner wigglier tributary that rejoins the main river near Ilford Bridge. On the neighbouring meadows a manorhouse was well established in Tudor times, then demolished to make way for Aldersbrook Farm, then sold off to the City of London who planned to build an enormous cemetery instead. That's still here and still enormous, also an amazing place to walk around, and its gothic gates are the first thing you see if approaching Aldersbrook from Manor Park. If this had been a proper A-Z post I'd have gone into more detail about the backhistory, but it isn't so let's move on.
The Aldersbrook estate was built between 1899 and 1910 and has barely expanded since, so rigidly have the City of London protected the integrity of Wanstead Flats. The original landowner decreed that all the housing be of "villa-style", thus to walk around the estate today is to experience the peak of Edwardian suburbia, a web of splendid avenues where every home is bedecked with intricate flourishes. The luckiest residents still have geometrical ceramic pathways leading to a fanlit door, also recessed porches with decorative tiling to dado level, also moulded plasterwork around decorative sash windows. But it's the porches that stand out most, many topped with fiddly carved timber or ornate cast iron, and I'm sorry I can only show you two in my photos because by no means all the outdoor flourishes look like this. To see more there's always Streetview, but easier just to scan through the Conservation Areadesign guide instead.
Few public facilities were provided for residents of Aldersbrook, and definitely not a pub, although this was the era when places of worship were still deemed important so even the Baptist church has a significant spire. A single parade of shops exists in the southeast corner which until recently offered a chippie, off-licence, salon and various cemetery hangers-on. I was shocked to see they've all been decanted in favour of two knocked-through units, one of which opened as a Tesco Express before Christmas while the other remains unlet. Aldersbrook Library is a lowly hut, supposedly once the old farm's dairy, and only intermittently-open. But if it's a sit-down coffee you seek then your sole option appears to be the legendary Wanstead Tea Hut beside the lake in the park, although they don't bother in bad weather and Tesco's Costa machine isn't quite the same. There's also a Greggs at the Esso garage (where the original farm used to be), but that's no premier coffee experience either.
It's not all Edwardian delight round here, and the further west you go the more modern flats appear. East Ham council used to run a large children's home behind Woodlands Avenue and when that closed the site was redeveloped as three-storey flats, screamingly Sixties in design. Considerable Eighties filler lies behind, these the only residents with their own designated parking spaces. And at Blake Hall Crescent is the famous Aldersbrook Lawn Tennis Club, a long sliver of all-weather courts not yet back in full operation. You can watch the tennis action from the three bus routes that skirt Aldersbrook, but no public transport ventures into the Edwardian interior so you may never have seen how appealingly off-piste it is You lucky residents, you have a little treasure here. But I didn't write about Aldersbrook, I wrote about Aldborough Hatch, so that was merely the potted version.
There was an even greater embarrassment of riches for B. The split-level oddity that is Belvedere. The ancient extremity of Bedfont. The inner hoods of Brook Green and Brompton. One of the two vastly-different Belmonts. The near Dartford-ness of Barnes Cray. The A40-adjacent Brentham Garden Suburb. The teensy hamlet of Berry's Green. In the end I went for the Bexley trio of Blackfen, Blendon and Bridgen. But I was also seriously tempted to take you to the isolated highlands of Enfield and the outlier that is Botany Bay...
B is for Botany Bay
If London had a sensible northern border that wasn't the M25, Botany Bay would be in Hertfordshire. It sits adrift on a high road called the Ridgeway with a river valley on each side, roughly halfway between Potters Bar and Enfield. It's so remote that its name does indeed come from the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay, its location amid the Elizabethan hunting ground of Enfield Chase deemed notably inaccessible. As a minor hamlet it still only has about 200 residents strung out in very mixed housing along the main road. Some live in old brick cottages, others in bungalows, villas, semis and bespoke detacheds, all added as and when. There's even a smart rustic cul-de-sac that could have been the first flourishings of broader development but plainly wasn't, this still a tiny island in a sea of Green Belt.
Pubs: 1. The Robin Hood has been here since 1904, a large faux-timbered roadside inn with a car park to match. Food is very high on the agenda, the twin boards out front currently promoting Sunday roasts and a special Valentine's experience featuring Jamie Cullis from 8pm. The village highspot, it would seem. Shops: 1. But not a convenience store, instead the farm shop at Botany Bay Farm ('where London meets the country™'). I confess the large sign saying HAND MADE SAUSAGES AND LOCALLY PRODUCED HAM AND BACON properly tempted me, also the jar of sparkly rainbow drops by the till, but villagers and drive-by patrons may better appreciate the range of breads, preserves, cakes and juices. Alpaca Experiences: 1. Botany Bay Farm diversified into alpacas in 2024, its herd of ten tame trotters available for 40 minute trekking sessions most weekends. Rest assured that only the farm's Longhorn cattle end up in the shop as meat, the alpacas are instead shorn to produce knitted snoods, gloves and beanies.
Cricket Clubs: 1. Botany Bay's cricket club was founded in 1899 and was a founder member of the Middlesex League. To my eye the pitch looks sloping, which is perhaps why nobody scored a century here until 1937. Rugby Clubs, Petanque Clubs, Darts teams and MG Owners Clubs: 1 of each, all based at the cricket club. Jazz nights: 2. Trad on Tuesdays and modern on Thursdays, again at the cricket club who certainly know how to diversify. Tonight it's Liane Caroll, 'the phenomenal pianist and vocalist' (and a regular at Ronnie Scott's) who'll be performing over supper. Bus routes: 1. The 313 provides a regular 20 minute service to towns with proper shops and services, and also offers an amazing view of undulating rural fields from its upper deck (but only if you come on a day when it isn't raining).
As for the letter C I went with Cranford but could have gone with Carterhatch, Chase Cross, Chelsfield, Childs Hill, Clayhall, Coldblow, Colham Green, Coney Hall, Coombe, Corbets Tay or Cudham, a truly bumper selection of outliers. Think you know London? There's always so much more to discover and I've got a long way to go yet.
