Walking the England Coast Path Birchington → Reculver (5 miles)
In my very long-term attempt to walk the coast of Kent, yesterday I plugged a five mile gap on the north coast. In 2014 I'd got no further east than Reculver and in 2019 no further west than Birchington so in 2026 I've connected them together. I actually walked all the way from Birchington to Herne Bay because the intervening miles are marshy nomansland with no stations, but today I'll just blog about the gap. Thankfully all the fog had cleared by the time my train reached Gravesend so it was a glorious coastal stroll. [10 photos]
Birchington is the westernmost suburb on the Isle of Thanet, three miles from Margate and the other side of Westgate-on-Sea. It's flats and bungalows, it's retirement-a-go-go, it's small terriers with poppies hanging from their collars, also a pristine bowls club that shuts promptly on 1st October at the end of the season. My walk started at Beresford Gap, a cut in the chalk where housing makes way for cliff-edge greensward. They're hardly the highest of cliffs but sufficient for a panorama encompassing Margate tower blocks, distant ships and (because it was low tide) a vast wave-cut platform scattered with rockpools and seaweed. Several rustic shelters have been provided, each recently painted in that special shade of light blue only coastal local authorities use. Motor caravans must not be parked on Cliff Road between the hours of 6pm and 6am.
Where the chalk stops the streets dip back towards sea level, one astutely called Canute Road. This is Minnis Bay, a gently shelving rocky beach that morphs into an extensive sandy sweep, plus a semi-circular tide-lapped pool by the promenade for paddlers feeling brave. This is also dog-walking central, at least now September's passed and mutts are allowed on the beach again, also the regular recipient of an Environment Agency 'Excellent' award for bathing quality. Two dozen characterless beach huts provide minor shelter and two beachfront bars offer refreshment for the silver-haired and members of the local sailing club. The grassy embankment that leads to the town's beacon is lined by numerous benches, their backs all seemingly carved by the same carpenter, one of which commemorates a death just four months ago and another of which remembers Audrey & Archie Love You Lots Like Jelly Tots.
Here begins the Northern Sea Wall, a three mile concrete sea defence built in the 1950s to protect the farmland behind from unwanted inundation. It wasn't quite finished when the great flood of 1953 hit, hence the tidal surge covered 5000 acres and spread inland beyond the railway line. The sea has every right to be here because this used to be the Wantsum Channel, a (very) broad band of water that once separated the Isle of Thanet from the rest of Kent. The Romans used it as a shipping route and the Normans established what would now be inland ports up navigable creeks. But between the 12th and 15th centuries the channel gradually silted up, partly from slower flow and partly from an ecclesiastical landgrab, so by the reign of Elizabeth I Thanet was an island no more. Instead a broad swathe of almost-uninhabited farmland now stretches from coast to coast, several miles wide, and the remainder of the walk is thus a straight hike across the mouth of the former marine channel.
You can tell it's about to get remote because dogwalkers choose to go no further, there being nowhere to head except straight back. The edge of solitude is a spot called Plum Pudding Island, formerly the site of a sewage treatment works but now thankfully more about horses and caravans. I had the entire wall seemingly to myself after I'd passed the last birdwatcher, his binoculars trained on a flock of white seabirds paddling beyond the next groyne. A shingly lagoon here has managed to attract avocets and ringed plovers since it was de-silted ten years ago, and although all I got to see was two swans they did swoop round for a noisy splashdown just for me.
The sea wall is only slightly raised and also had to be vehicle-width so is quite broad. A parallel footpath runs immediately behind for anyone who prefers to walk three miles without ever seeing the sea (or perhaps to escape the worst of the weather should it be stormy). The farmland here is flat ploughed fields interspersed with drainage channels, plus the occasional interconnecting track for farmers only. After a mile comes a channel a tad wider than the others which it turns out is what remains of the Wantsum, now draining south to meet the River Stour before flowing east towards Sandwich. A public footpath here is the only escape from the seafront for a good three miles, and equally remote as it heads inland across the floodplain so best not follow it in the hope of heading somewhere less lonely.
And so the wall ploughs on, shingle banks to the right and two tiny towers in the distance growing inexorably closer. I did pass three people out walking, also a tiny handful of joggers, but the majority of those passing were on bikes because this flat coastline is absolutely perfect for it. Often they were in pairs so I heard a brief snatch of conversation as they passed, one couple gabbling about nuclear power stations and another about a mystery man ("was that the wedding at Quex? ...the one whose wife was hanging from a lamppost? ...isn't he dead now?"). Otherwise my sole company was a robin on a bush, a cormorant on a groyne and scores of gulls at the water's edge as the tide quietly splashed back in.
Civilisation gradually re-encroaches, this because there's a car park at Reculver so visitors are slightly more willing to walk a short distance along the wall. Eventually the two Norman towers take centre stage, perched loftily on a sandstone outcrop at the most strategic point for miles. You can't climb up direct, you have to deviate via a sloping lawn where once a large square Roman fort overlooked the mouth of the Wantsum. Only a few foundations of that survive, the two enormous towers instead being all that remains of a Anglo-Saxon monastery's 12th century extension. The remainder of St Mary's church was destroyed by gunpowder in 1809, having been deemed unsafe, but Trinity House insisted on keeping the twin towers and hanging beacons from them as an aid to navigation. Feel free to wander down the nave, head out through what used to be the porch and onwards to the outline of a Roman bathhouse, reflecting on an amazing history far more varied than most.
It gets much Kentier on the far side - a pub, a visitor centre and an adventure playground. This is Reculver Country Park, a non-English Heritage zone, reached by driving up a long dead end lane and paying for parking beneath the towers. Perhaps grab a pint from The King Ethelbert Inn, alternatively a coffee from local baristas HatsHats, and if you do partake rest assured there are also public toilets, the sole conveniences for miles. Yesterday the team from Bird Wise had turned up in their van to celebrate all thing seabird, but mainly to educate visitors on how not to disturb them. And best not wait for the bus, it only comes twice a day, so if you've come on foot I'm afraid it's a hike of over an hour to the nearest station.
I continued west atop undulating cliffs and across the woody contours of Bishopstone Glen, inexorably passing rows of wind turbines far out in the estuary. The last half hour along a concrete promenade was less enchanting, before this finally deposited me on the seafront at the resort of Herne Bay, still lightly buzzing at the fag end at the summer season. Here Cabin FM played out on the stumpy pier, a charity singer prepared to entertain diners in the bandstand and ageing bikers sunned themselves by the clocktower while passers-by admired their gaudy steeds. This second half of my walk is part of the Oyster Bay Trail, an eight mile seafront connection linking Whitstable to Reculver, thus previously blogged. Just know that from whichever direction you choose to approach Reculver it's both impressive and impressively remote, and I'm very pleased to have finally plugged the gap.
I bought my laptop in August 2024 and it's worked absolutely fine ever since. I made sure it came with proper Microsoft Office, and I made sure I bought it via a one-time-purchase, not some online subscription version. That's all worked fine too, but yesterday a message popped up telling me that Microsoft have ended support for Office 2021 and I should strongly consider upgrading.
Bugger that, I thought. How miserable to stop supporting something I bought only two years ago, how mercenary is Microsoft? I checked and Office 2024 was introduced five weeks after I bought my laptop, so I'm essentially being penalised for purchasing in August rather than October.
"You may still be able to use it" for goodness sake, what kind of ridiculous pressure is that? Of course I can continue to use it, you haven't actually made it impossible, you're just greedy opportunists who've deliberately ended security support to drive further sales.
I checked the prices, and to buy a one-time copy of Office 2024 costs £119.99. I have no intention of rebuying something I already bought, so no thanks.
The alternative option they're plugging really heavily is a Microsoft 365 subscription starting at £8.49 a month. Only a fool pays monthly so the better option is a £84.99 annual subscription, but that's not a one-time payment and can really add up. After two years it's £170, after three years £255, and that's just screwing your audience long-term in the hope they don't notice.
Also Microsoft 365 is a suite of in-browser apps, not separate programs, and I would only switch to that impractical set-up if it became the sole available option.
I'm not upgrading, obviously, I'm carrying on using Office 2021 which I paid for barely two years ago. But the direction of travel is clear, not just here but with all kinds of products the world over, they'd rather you start a subscription than let you buy something outright because that's so much better for them and so much worse for you.
25 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in October 2026
1) Over 600 buses now have air-conditioning in the passenger saloon, with approximately 700 more on order. 2) The key unresolved issues with digital Oyster wallets are around the user experience to ensure that the right wallet is used by the reader. How this will work needs to be proven before TfL can progress with a digital Oyster proposition. 3) In the last financial year 2395 passengers made a DLR journey from Canary Wharf to West India Quay and 3132 made a journey from West India Quay to Canary Wharf (the UK's shortest rail journey) 4) If you've ever wondered how many times an Overground train passed Hackney Downs in the space of one week, it was 2140 times in June 2019, 2149 times in June 2021 and most recently 2069. 5) The word 'misbehaving' should not be part of an on-train Digital Voice Announcement script nor a pre-recorded station message. (if you're the reader who read my Unblogged September post and submitted this FoI request, next time perhaps hold back if you don't know all the details)
6) The 13 tube stations categorised as "close to impossible" with regard to step-free access are Arsenal, Barons Court, Cannon Street, Chalk Farm, Charing Cross, Clapham Common, Clapham North, Great Portland Street, Lambeth North, Mansion House, Mile End, Regent's Park and West Ruislip 7) TfL are the owners of 10 reinforced concrete half-joint structures, including Perivale Lane Footbridge, Bexley Golf Course Footbridge, Blackfriars Bridgehead and the Croydon flyover. 8) The bus shelter adjacent to Postal Close, Bexley, is owned by the London borough of Bexley. 9) Plans to boost frequency on the Overground include a) increasing the service between Crystal Palace and Highbury & Islington from 4tph to 6tph (expected May 2027) b) increasing the service between Liverpool Street and Enfield Town/Cheshunt from 2tph to 3tph (expected July 2028) c) increasing the service between Clapham Junction and Dalston Junction from 4tph to 6tph (not before May 2029). 10) TfL can't tell you if your Vauxhall Zafira 7 seater qualifies for Uber (obviously).
11) TfL own the bus garages at Ash Grove, Brixton Tramshed, Brixton Hill, Edgware, Henley Road, Twickenham, Uxbridge, Walworth and West Ham (leasing them to the relevant bus operator). 12) The current plan for introducing the new DLR fleet is that Stratford-Woolwich be 100% operated by new trains by 10th Jan 2027, Bank-Lewisham by 30th May 2027, Bank-Woolwich by 31st October 2027, Tower Gateway-Beckton by 5th March 2028, and Stratford-Lewisham by 16th April 2028. (fully blogged here) 13) Between 5th August and 9th September only seven passenger incidents were recorded on the Underground in the category "Faint/Illness due to heat condition" (at London Bridge, Knightsbridge, Camden Town, High Barnet, Parsons Green, Euston and Clapham South). 14) The cameras on buses are not used to enforce bus lane restrictions, therefore no bus lane Penalty Charge Notices have been issued from evidence recorded by these cameras. 15) There are 19159 fire extinguishers on the Underground, 892 on the Overground and 835 on the Elizabeth line.
16) The upholstery on London Underground train seats is vacuumed every 28 days, swept nightly for dust and debris and given a yearly shampoo. 17) The last five special Oyster card issues were the Adidas Oyster collaboration card 2012, The Year of the Bus card 2014, Adidas Arsenal Collaboration card 2022, Elizabeth Line Opening card 2022 and Oyster 20th Anniversary card 2023. 18) Last year the cycle hire docking station that was most often full was Royal Avenue, Chelsea (1400 hours). Last month it was Exhibition Road, South Kensington (87 hours). 19) The TfL advertising estate includes 966 digital escalator panels, 30 escalator ribbons, 238 digital platform edge doors and 4 sites categorised as "Premium iconic". The projector units on tube platforms are in the process of being phased out. There are no digital screens on the tram network. 20) 89 London bus routes include a Hail & Ride section. The lowest numbered of these is the 138. Over half the Hail & Rides are lettered routes. Four of them are school buses.
21) Music is played in a passageway at King’s Cross St Pancras station as part of ‘Music on the Underground’, a program where brands who purchase all the advertising space in the passageway can add music to enhance the customer experience. The music is restricted to Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. For example Channel 5 chose Max Richter’s The Four Seasons Recomposed. 22) Last year 93,256 holders of 60+ Oyster cards failed to renew their cards in time, 91,174 had their cards stopped, 67,231 reapplied and 59,835 were successful. 23) TfL sent out 4,983,464 emails alerting people that the Silvertown Tunnel would be opening on 7th April 2025, and a further 2,537,146 emails to say that it had opened. 24) Seven refurbished Central line trains have now re-entered service, the seventh of these yesterday. It comprises cars 91319, 92319, 93082, 92082, 93110, 92110, 91339 and 92339.
25) And finally confirmation that the FoI team sometimes go the extra mile... Q: As a child in 1958, I used to take the bus from The Surrey Tavern, on Trinity Road Wandsworth, to Tooting Bec. How much was the 'half fare' at that time for this distance. The choice of two buses were the No. 19 and the No. 49. A: Fares for London bus journeys around this period operated on a distance-based system, with children paying half-rate. Colleagues at the London Transport Museum have been able to check a 1960 fare chart for route 19 and the specific journey you cite was one fare stage (0.5 miles) and the child fare would have been 1½d.
On Wednesday the Ian Visits website celebrated its 20th birthday, an exceptional milestone. I say that having got there myself, but whereas I generally write one post a day Ian writes half a dozen, an exceptional output. His posts are generally "a mixture of transport, architecture, history, exhibitions and things to do around London", so he says, and his What's On list is a famously good digest of things actually worth visiting rather than overhyped brand opportunities. If you're reading this blog you probably ought to be reading his, not just for news on 5G tube rollout and HS2 updates but also gaslit streets, historical alleyways, upcoming lectures and new openings in zone 5. It is, in case you hadn't realised, a phenomenal amount of work.
To give you some idea of how much work it is I've been out to visit every story Ian Visits visited on Ian Visits' birthday. That's all six of Wednesday's articles and, because the day's first post was actually about the 20th birthday, also the first of Thursday's too. All in all it took me over three hours to get round the seven sites, during which time I rode six trains, caught five buses and walked five miles. I'm not saying Ian visited all of these places in a similar time, nor needed to, but imagine keeping up that level of content generation throughout the week.
And here it is, a somewhat sad looking hunk of rock on the Locksley estate in Limehouse. It would have been fun to use when surrounded by sand and undamaged, whereas chunks of the 1958 stone have since broken off and the whole thing's been hemmed inside railings for health and safety reasons. That said the gate in the railings was unlocked so I was able to go inside anyway, watched by a mystified council operative taking a break from sweeping leaves. The cleverest part, I reckoned, was that the knees make a tiny slide. So hurrah that the Heritage of London Trust are helping to restore Trevor Tennant's sculpture, a reminder that play equipment can be inspiring rather just a few bland rocks and pipes. And hurrah to everyone concerned for firing out a press release about a clamberable Gulliver on the 300th anniversary of the publication of Gulliver's Travels, all very Lilliputian.
The date for the reopening of the Museum of London under its new name on a new site is Saturday 28th November 2026, or one month from now (or four weeks given it's no longer Wednesday). The new building is the former Smithfield Market, or at least some of it, starting with the former Victorian General Market. It'll be packed with exhibits across three themes - Real Time, Our Time and Past Time - which Ian can tell you more about, while a separate paid-exhibition space will open in the former Poultry Market in 2028. Ian is right that the new museum now has a sign in place on its roof facing Farringdon Road. I spotted another LONDON MUSEUM sign up a sidestreet above what I presume will be the main entrance, covering what used to be West Poultry Avenue, and maybe don't put 28th November in your diary because I expect Day 1 to be ridiculously busy.
The Barbican Conservatory is a fabulous green space, London's second largest glasshouse after Kew, and home to over 1500 species of tropical plants and trees. It's closing until 2030 so the interior can be refurbished and renewed, a mighty project which means a lot of the existing greenery will just get in the way. They're thus giving away thousands of cuttings to anyone who wants one and is successful in a ballot, details of which Ian can tell you. Walking past yesterday I saw lots and lots of cuttings on tables just inside a steamy window, all carefully labelled, so for example I can tell you they have 39 Tradescantia pallida ready to go. If alternatively you just want a look inside before closure, the next bookable slots are on Friday 13th and Sunday 15th November.
» For more on the Barbican Conservatory giveaway see the Ian Visits website
If you can't get tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry why not jump ahead five centuries and see some Italian woodcuts. They're free to view and they're in Room 90, which is just behind Egypt and directly under Japan. Because woodcuts are inkprints a lot of them survive, unlike the wooden blocks they made them with (although apparently Francesco Denanto's Circumcision survives in Modena). These intricate images are invariably Biblical in nature, given pretty much no other book had captured the Renaissance zeitgeist, so expect a lot of pious Jesuses, angsty disciples, Old Testament setpieces and naked helldemons. Many of the black and white tableaux tell a good story, also it's refreshing to see what are essentially intricate cartoons, also how often do you get to see a caseful of Titians for nothing? Here until 21st March.
» For more on the Italian Renaissance woodcuts exhibition see the Ian Visits website
As painfully slow building projects go, JP Morgan's new Thamesside HQ is painfully slower than most. They bought the site by Canary Wharf Pier in 2008 and since then nothing whatsoever's gone up bar some foundations and a few metal poles. Now finally a planning application for a new tower's gone in, which includes news that they want to cover the ramp down from Westferry Circus with a park. It means bank employees could leave the building and walk to nearby stations with ease, but would also consign through traffic to the lower roundabout (and seemingly scupper the D8 bus). It's a novel eco-friendly idea but intrusive, and I suspect most drivers would be happier to see the JP Morgan site left empty for another 18 years.
» For more on the Westferry Circus planning application see the Ian Visits website
I've lost count of the number of times someone's claimed a Bakerloo line extension might be closer to completion, the stumbling block invariably being money. Now the Mayor finally has some financial certainty, maybe, as a move in Wednesday's Budget promised that regional Mayors would be permitted to borrow funds balanced against future tax revenues. The Bakerloo line extension even got a namecheck in the Chancellor's speech as an example of a project that might benefit. The tax change would happen gradually from 2027, so don't expect brown trains rumbling under the Old Kent Road before 2040 at the earliest, but it never hurts to stand wistfully at the tunnel mouth at Elephant & Castle and imagine how simple it might be to get to Lewisham.
» For more on transport projects potentially now deliverable see the Ian Visits website
The thing about the Ian Visits website is that he knows about new things nobody else has even noticed yet, like this micro-museum devoted to the Great Fire of London at the foot of the Monument. It really isn't huge, there's only capacity for 8 people, also as Ian points out it has a ridiculously extensive health and safety list by the entrance (the subheadings are Participate At Your Own Risk, Consult A Doctor, Epilepsy Warning and Claustrophobia Warning). Apparently what's inside is a five-minute animated film, also red walls, historic illustrations and an illuminated display of stylised flames, but you'll have to take Ian's word on that. Alas when I got there yesterday a workman was standing by the door while his colleague did some noisy maintenance inside, and his comment "it should be open again this afternoon" wasn't reassuring enough for me to come back. Hopefully your fiery visit will have better luck.
» For more on the Monument Micro Museum (and every other key London story going forward) see the Ian Visits website
We're now at the tough end of the alphabet for unsung suburbs. There's Victoria and Vauxhall but they're way too well known. There's Kingston Vale, Putney Vale and Streatham Vale, but that's stretching alphabetical licence too far. The only other V in the Ordnance Survey's 681-strong list is a small residential hollow at the top of Hampstead Heath, essentially just one street, but in the absence of anything better it'll have to do. Thankfully it's fascinating with links to DH Lawrence, fairgrounds and the Daily Mail, also extremely aspirational so well done if you live there.
The Vale of Health was once an insalubrious dip amid open heathland above Hampstead, so has undergone a sly nominal transformation over the years. As one of the sources of the River Fleet it's long been a bit damp, and was described by one Georgian gentlewoman as 'a stagnate bottom, a pit in the heath'. Its first inhabitant arrived in the 1710s, a harness maker called Samuel Hatch with a shop on the highway up by Jack Straw's Castle. He wanted a workshop to store his hides and was granted a small patch in the wasteland below where he added a cottage and cowshed, the area thus becoming known as Hatchett's Bottom. In 1777 the Hampstead Water Company enlarged the pond and drained the marshy ground, making it a tad less unappealing, but the area was still mostly used for tanning, then a varnish factory, later laundering clothes. As you can see the lakeside's changed a lot since then.
A few poorhouses were added in 1779, then a chimneysweep's cottage, then a builder spotted that a sheltered secluded spot might be the ideal spot for a handful of more middle classes houses. The name 'Vale of Health' was first recorded in 1801, presumably to attract sales, despite no evidence that living in a boggy bottom was truly good for you. Within decades the Vale became a hideaway for the well-to-do and the artistic set, also day trippers who enjoyed tea gardens, boats and a fairground (summer months only). Most of the 60-or-so houses we see today were tucked in during the 19th century, plus a hotel called the Vale of Health Tavern which was soon turned into flats. It's now a tightknit community of quaint and occasionally invisible villas, essentially one long curling cul-de-sac with a dead end coming off it, which unless you find the right way in goes happily unnoticed by the rest of the world.
The right way in, at least if you're driving, is a turn off from East Heath Road beside a sign (correctly) warning that the road is unsuitable for HGVs. One of the streetsigns here has been damaged so claims this is the Vale of Healt, but that's about the only misstep present. The road descends through a tunnel of foliage and is completely lined by parked cars, this because most residents live in close-packed houses built before the need for off-road space so vehicles need to be left here. You can also walk in across the heath, one particular woody track lit by facsimile oil lamps as you descend, quite sharply, into the secret world of Hatchett's Bottom.
The first row of houses is splendid in a very Hampstead way, all tall thin villas with Gothic gables and steps up to the front door, perhaps several. Everyone on the left has the benefit of a lake view, hence the third house is indeed called Lakeview, its neighbours including Heathhurst, Silverdale and (my favourite) Upfleet. At least two currently have the builders in, because if you can afford a pile here you can certainly stretch to extra shower rooms, bespoke stone worktops and micro-cement-style finishes. All the necessary services have been provided, by which I mean a red pillarbox and a noticeboard. Alongside is a beautiful street map seemingly created by some local graphic artist in the 1990s, ideally situated should your Ocado delivery need to stop off to work out where Blossom Villa or Lavender Cottage are.
One of the three blue plaques in the Vale is above the door of number 3 Villas on the Heath, this for the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore who stayed here briefly in 1912. The recipient of the second plaque did better by living here for six months, just round the corner at 1 Byron Villas. This was DH Lawrence, this his first London residence in 1915 before he and his wife moved down to Cornwall. Byron did indeed have connections here, he and Shelley often dropping in on the recipient of the third blue plaque, the poet James Leigh Hunt (whose speakeasy can be found halfway along a narrow alleyway).
Plaque number 4 is black and appears on the front of Rose Cottage where Alfred Harmsworth spent three years of his childhood. He grew up to become Lord Northcliffe, Fleet Street's greatest populist newspaper magnate who (amongst many other self-interested interventions) helped turn the Daily Mail into the outspoken organ it is today. I love that the letter box at Rose Cottage now has a sign outside saying No Junk Mail, probably not as a reference to newspaper deliveries but it'd be hilarious if it was.
One arm of the cul-de-sac bends round past chocolate box cottages, quirky bungalows and heathfront villas, also houses so secluded that I'd have seen nothing had the gate in the thick hedge not been open. Signs repeatedly warn that Neighbourhood Watch is keeping a close eye, but I think the bloke bemused by my presence was just a jobbing gardener. Gaps in the treeline provide access straight onto the upper Heath, seemingly a key exercising spot for dogs, so you could be up at the Jack Straw's Castle bus stop in a couple of minutes if you don't mind a climb. 20 years ago there was a near perfect view across the Vale from up top but alas encroachingwoodland has all but put paid to that.
The other dead end slopes downwards past more of Heath Villas, pastel painted, its uncurtained windows revealing bookshelves, ceramics and other cultural furnishings. The property magic ends abruptly at the end of the terrace with Spencer House, the modern block of flats built on the site of the Vale of Health Hotel. If it looks dull from the road that's because the building's fully focused on the lake beyond, an inspirational view that repeatedly lured painter Stanley Spencer to use a studio here.
But the really quirky thing hereabouts is the corral of caravans and trailers across the road, officially titled The Fairground Site. It's not for your entertainment, it's a base for a travelling community living their best caravan life, also somewhere to store a Friendly Falafels booth between events when its not being used. Here people sit on garden chairs and cook using gas canisters, while across the road a Sunday magazine's photographer could drop in at any moment, such are the contrasts of the Vale of Health.
It's easy to slip out here onto the Heath proper, perhaps to the Ice House, a conical-roofed building half-concealed in the trees which was originally built as an estatekeeper's hut. Alternatively head down to the pond for a look back at the rear of the buildings fortunate enough to be water-facing, also their fancy extensions and back gardens. I suspect the true joy of living here is having the whole of Hampstead Heath at your disposal just a few metres from your front door, such are the benefits of being some of the only housing ever to have been permitted on this huge urban open space. The Vale of Health may have been named in deceit but it's a lot easier to see the health benefits of living here today, should you have a couple of million to spare that is.
5-letter national capitals: Abuja, Accra, Amman, Cairo, Dakar, Dhaka, Hanoi, Kabul, La Paz, Minsk, Paris, Praia, Quito, Rabat, Sana'a, Seoul, Sofia, Tokyo, Tunis, Vaduz Chinese Zodiac animals in Japanese: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥 Posh M&S crisp flavours: Aberdeen Angus Beef and Mustard, Butter Basted Roast Turkey, British Ham and Hot Mustard, Cornish Cruncher and Pickled Onion, Mature Cheddar and Spring Onion, Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar/Cracked Black Pepper, Roast Chicken and Garlic Butter, Extra Virgin Olive Oil Crisps with Lobster/Black Truffle/Mediterranean Sea Salt/Serrano Ham Nightbuses in Harrow: N5 N18 N32 N83 N98 N118 N140
Anglican dioceses on the Greenwich Meridian: York, Lincoln, Ely, St Albans, Chelmsford, London, Southwark, Rochester, Chichester, Gibraltar, Alexandria, West Africa Radio stations that launched in 1976: Radio 210, Downtown Radio, Beacon Radio, BBC Radio Highland Middle names of the last seven Ballon d'Or winners: Edward, Ousmane, Hernández, Andrés, Mostafa, Andrés, Andrés Frequency of the digits in the barcode for a Terry's Chocolate Orange: 6 four times, 4 thrice, 3 twice, 0 7 and 8 once, 1 2 5 and 9 never
4-letter words you can make out of FIASCO: coif, foci, ciao, oafs, soca, sofa Cube-numbered Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Wartortle, Sandshrew, Kadabra, Electabuzz, Teddiursa, Baltoy, Simisage, Brionne, Gholdengo Stations on the Central line without toilets: Northolt, North Acton, East Acton, every station from Shepherd's Bush to St Paul's, Bethnal Green, Mile End, Leyton, Wanstead, Gants Hill, South Woodford Opening days at Bembridge Windmill in 2003: Jan-Feb closed, Mar-Jun not Saturdays, Jul-Aug daily, Sep-Oct not Saturdays, Nov-Dec closed
Born in the same week as Thora Hird: Vincent Price, VP Hubert Humphrey, James Marjoribanks, Vice Admiral Ian Hogg 10 things that won't be affected by today's Budget: Freddos, the colour yellow, HB pencils, pigeons, elastic bands, iced buns, VHS recorders, orchids, helipads, Jupiter Commemorative 8½p stamps in 1976: Housewife (Telephones), Hewing coal (Social Reformers), Elizabeth of Glamis (National Rose Society), Archdruid (British Cultural Traditions), The Canterbury Tales (William Caxton), Angel with Crown (Christmas) Goals Tottenham have scored in their Premiership matches so far this season: 00002132
How I get from here to Bow Road station: right, left, right, left, right, right, right, right, right, left, right, left, right, left The last words of the chapters in the book I'm currently reading: him language who language show life Italy Sánchez again that man consciousness leave me of again thereafter secret now trap now shock there bin trying too family though talk call Sweden it hands talk is (...and that's as far as I've got so far) Debuts: N J S M STGCARDR LMDNJMD MSDGB?DGT PA?C?GD LPJPM JDAPJ N SND SDPKGLGILATAJDCJ CWPIMDSI CSAGRAS PGG DDVJ SPJA A M Icelandic coins I have in a small pot: 2×100kr, 5×10kr, 6×5kr, 4×1kr (=£1.75)
The longest-serving Coronation Street characters: Ken Barlow, Rita Tanner, Audrey Roberts, Kevin Webster, Sally Metcalfe, Steve McDonald Overground colours in HTML: #0077AD, #5BBD72, #5D6061, #823A62, #ED1B00, #FAA61A Farrow & Ball purples: Peignoir, Calluna, Brassica, Pelt, Paean Black, Brinjal, Sugared Almond, Imperial Purple, Titmouse Blue Double-landlocked ceremonial counties: Bedfordshire, West Midlands
New entries into the Top 40 60 years ago this week: Beach Boys, Lee Dorsey, Spencer Davis Group, Creation, Easybeats New entries into the Top 40 50 years ago this week: Neil Diamond, Leo Sayer, the Who, John Miles New entries into the Top 40 40 years ago this week: Duran Duran, the Smiths, Letitia Dean & Paul Medford, Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush, Red Box, Bob Geldof, Swing Out Sister, Shakin' Stevens, Prince New entries into the Top 40 30 years ago this week: East 17 & Gabrielle, Toni Braxton, Reef, Livin' Joy, Madonna, Space, Alisha's Attic, Lightning Seeds, REM, the Braids, Gene, Presidents of the USA, Huff & Puff, Alexander O'Neal, Mazzy Star
Kings whose reigns began in a year ending in 6: Edmund Ironside, Cnut, Harold II, William I, Henry III, Edward VIII, George VI Letters ordered by their frequency in the numbers from one to ten: enitofhrsvguwx Anagrams of Scottish airports: Brush Mug, Cop Newt Lamb, Denude, Hunger Bid, Nerviness, Retie, Sick Twerp, Sly AI, To Norways, Uncle Babe X-Files episodes containing the letter X: Excelsis Dei, Max, Redux, Patient X, Folie à Deux, The Sixth Extinction, The Sixth Extinction II, X-Cops, Brand X, Existence, Rm9sbG93ZXJz
Years with purple car tax discs: 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 UK's 10 biggest charities by expenditure: Wellcome Trust, Nuffield Health, Charities Aid Foundation, British Council, Save The Children, National Trust, United Learning, Arts Council, Cancer Research, Cardiff University Extras at the Cross Road Fish Bar in Kingston: mushrooms in breadcrumbs, onion rings, mushy peas, curry sauce, buttered roll, gherkin, pickled onion, pickled egg, pineapple fritter Mr Men characters whose bodies are formed of straight lines: Mr Cool, Mr Rush, Mr Christmas, Mr Grumpy, Mr Sneeze, Mr Birthday, Mr Strong
Toblerone variants: Dark chocolate, White chocolate, Mint crisp, Snowtop, Fruit & Nut, Honeycomb crisp, Crunchy Salted Almond MPs with the lowest majorities: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby) 6, David Pinto-Duschinsky (Labour - Hendon) 15, Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole) 18, Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay) 20, Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire) 39, Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon) 61 Gants in Braintree: Bailey's Gant, Bird In Hand Gant, Hilly Gant, Leatherworkers Gant, Osborn's Gant, Pig's Head in the Pottage Pot Gant Welsh stations with three Ls: Energlyn & Churchill Park, Heath Low Level, Lisvane & Thornhill, Llandeilo, Llansamlet, Llwyngwril, Pwllheli, Wildmill
Cinemas in Watford: ABC, Carlton, Cineworld, Empire, Essoldo, Gaumont, Odeon, Plaza, Regal, Super, Vue Saints Days on October 28th: Abraham, Africanus, Anastasia II, Anglinus, Eadsin, Faro, Ferrutius, Fidelis of Como, Godwin, Honoratus of Vercelli, Joachim Royo, John Dat, Jude Thaddaeus, Remigius, Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán, Salvius, Simon the Zealot 0.5 in trigonometric functions: cos(60°), sin(30°), tan(26.565°) Trademarked apple names: Evelina®, Jazz™, Junami®, Kanzi®, Red Prince®, Rubens®, Worcester Pearmain®, Zari®
Centuries without a transit of Venus: 3rd, 9th, 15th, 20th, 26th, 32nd, 37th The ten highest mountains on the Falkland Islands: Mount Usborne 705m, Mount Adam 700m, Mount Robinson 680m, Jack's Mountain 648m, Mount Philomel 600m, Mount Simon 600m, Mount Moody 554m, Muffler Jack Mountain 542m, The Onion 535m, Storm Mountain 521m Words that can be written using just one Morse Code symbol: he, hi, hie, hies, his, hiss, hisses, is, mom, moo, moot, motto, sees, she, sheesh, shhh, shies, to, tom, tomtom, too, toot, tot
The big change happened at 8pm on Sunday evening as the last buses barrelled through, barriers emerged and traffic ceased. Ian Visits was there for a final ride, Darryl was watching when the road was sealed off and London Centric took photos all through the night as transformation continued apace. You should be able to access at least one of those.
I waited until Monday morning for a good look around, also to enjoy the new sense of freedom, also to ride on some buses. Unfortunately it was raining throughout, bringing a less than celebratory vibe to all the intended publicity and good feeling. But hundreds of people had come out for a look, hundreds more were here to go shopping anyway and hundreds more were discovering how their journeys would now have to change. [14 photos]
First things first, this is very much work in progress. The Mayor can't introduce everything overnight, particularly when a lot of it needs to be painted, unpainted or bolted in. The intention is to watch how things develop over the next few months before a more permanent settled state is reached in a year's time. But they were able to add temporary bollards, hang additional signs and remove unwanted bus stops, so they did, also coned off sidestreets, covered over defunct traffic lights and stuck down a whopping green carpet with photo opportunities in mind. A queue of people were waiting to stand in the sweet spot to grab either a selfie or a longshot, and had it been drier I might not have had the patience to wait for mine.
Monday morning's main work task seemed to be to replace the plastic barriers laid out hastily overnight. Several fluorescent-jacketed crews were out installing what looked like giant green shark's teeth, each carefully branded with the Oxford Street logo. These all have to be spaced out carefully so cars and motorbikes can't get through but pedestrians and wheelchairs can, not just to deter ordinary traffic but also as hostile vehicle mitigation. Every entrance to the newly pedestrianised space is getting toothed, bollarded or combed, the net effect of which is that it's not quite so appealing an accessible space as it would otherwise have been.
One casualty is the famous X-shaped crossing at Oxford Circus. Formerly you could cross in all directions, but now there's no need so it's morphed into a single east-west rush. The classic X was introduced in November 2009 so lasted 17 years, if you were planning to write its obituary. I whipped out my stopwatch because I wondered if they'd changed the phasing but no, the Oxford Circus lights still cycle every 1 minute 35 seconds. What's more pedestrians still get exactly the same amount of time to cross with the countdown timer ticking down from '20'. The big beneficiaries here are thus northbound and southbound traffic who are now getting much longer to flow through the junction, and maybe that'll change after all the defunct signals have been removed but for now it's no victory for the pedestrian.
There are four other places where traffic cuts across the pedestrianised stripe - at Duke Street, Davies Street, New Bond Street and Holles Street. This is fewer crossings than before but still an intrusion, not least because they too are growing teeth. And inbetween, where traffic has been evacuated, were pedestrians yet walking in the street? Not yet, most of them were still happily walking on the pavement, but expect that to change as familiarity grows and further changes take place.
I think what most stood out was suddenly seeing signs at each end of the street saying PEDESTRIAN ZONE with a red 'No vehicles' sign underneath. We don't see these empty red circles very often and I wonder how many people know precisely what they mean. I checked the Highway Code and the official meaning is "No vehicles except pedal cycles being pushed by hand" so yes, you are supposed to get off your bike and walk. Obviously some cyclists won't and yesterday a few didn't, although a heavy official presence meant they didn't get very far before being approached.
I saw a lot of moaning online yesterday about bloody cyclists terrorising pedestrians on Oxford Street, almost all of it suppositional or based on a single example, drawing angry conclusions as blinkered grousers are prone to do. The reality, if you can be arsed to climb off your angry soapbox, is that it's barely an issue at all, as you'd know if you'd actually been there rather than amplifying hate from a distance.
Another overnight change was that all the Legible London vertical pillars had been covered over with new maps. They'd used thick board rather than stickers because it's more durable, but also much cheaper than ripping everything out and making new ones. The typeface used isn't the usual TfL one, it's the one branding company Koto have devised for everything to do with the updated Oxford Street and still feels unfamiliar. The pillars also include a local bus map, but alas that's a total TfL balls-up as I'll explain later, indeed it's probably time to start talking about some of the buschanges.
Four bus stops down Oxford Street will never see another bus, and all their flags were swiftly removed overnight. The remaining shelters join at least half a dozen others left over from previous bus stop rationalisations, all merrily scrolling electronic adverts and making TfL a nice wodge of cash. According to planning notices attached to lampposts, the intention is to retain the "internally illuminated sequential advertisement display capable of displaying static and dynamic content with automatic rotation of images" when a shelter is removed.
Also if you check government tenders you'll see the Mayor intends to introduce a heck of a lot more adverts going forward, all under the umbrella of 'Oxford Street Opportunity Advertising'. This is "expected to form a significant revenue stream within the Oxford Street pedestrianisation programme. To maximise both the commercial returns and the placemaking outcomes, the advertising opportunity will be considered as an integral component of the urban realm design rather than a subsequent overlay." They may be taking away the traffic but they intend to add a lot more commercial distraction, alas.
Four new bus stops have been added, all virgin and new, but 200m further north on Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place. They don't all have shelters, which on a day like yesterday was a serious mis-step. They also don't all have timetables, but it's a start. The really important thing is how to find the new bus stops if you've been shopping on Oxford Street, given there are umpteen sideroads you might choose to walk up. To solve this TfL have done one excellent thing which is to create big red boards with arrows and attach them to street furniture along the road. You have to know which bus you want but they are accurate and they do work... which is more than can be said for the maps.
On Day 1 each defunct bus stop had a pink-jacketed ambassador ready with advice and also a pad of tear-off colour maps to dish out. Giving out paper maps on a day it's pissing down with rain isn't exactly ideal, but you can't plan for that. One side of the sheet has a local street map, perfectly decent, but with no bus stops marked. The other side is called "Where to catch your bus" and has all the local bus stops, all 21 of them, even though several of them are irrelevant. The route list underneath only includes buses that used to travel down the pedestrianised section, not 20 other routes you might want to catch which stop nearby. But the utterly incompetent thing is that the list of bus stops is missing all the new stops and only mentions the old.
According to the map route 139 to Golders Green only stops at stop RC on Regent Street, whereas it also now stops at RE, HB. and WB. According to the map route 390 to Victoria only stops at O and OP either side of the interruption, whereas it also now stops at BA, WA and CA. In total five routes have three of their stops missing, so if you used the map and believed it you could end up walking half a mile out of your way rather than heading to a stop just round the corner. It's a balls-up anyone competent could have spotted if they'd proofread the map properly. Instead it's been printed out thousands of times as a handout, also slapped up on Legible London signs everywhere, also it's been on the BBC news website for a week so presumably nobody noticed there either.
As for the newly diverted bus routes, TfL's Commissioner went on the lunchtime news yesterday and assured Londoners there'd be "no material change to journey time". I've given it a try and I beg to differ. I made eight journeys a couple of weeks ago to establish a baseline, you may remember, and decided it took 7-8 minutes to travel down Oxford Street. Yesterday I went out again, between the same endpoints, and rode the 98 west and the 390 east.
98
west
M&S → Marble Arch
THEN
10m 10s
(8 red lights)
98
west
M&S → Marble Arch
NOW
14m 10s
(10 red lights)
390
east
Marble Arch → M&S
THEN
7m 40s
(5 red lights)
390
east
Marble Arch → M&S
NOW
21m 00s
(18 red lights!)
The 98 took four minutes longer, or seven minutes longer if you compare it to the previous average. The 98 saved time by not having to go through the Oxford Circus junction, but wasted far more time while deviating north round Henrietta Place and Wigmore Street. And that was the quicker journey.
The 390 was a nightmare trip taking 14 minutes more than previously, or if you prefer THREE TIMES LONGER. We reached Wigmore Street fairly quickly then progressed very slowly east in a jam that couldn't quite get through the next set of traffic lights before they changed, These signals have a lengthy cycle so each delay really added up, especially those that took two attempts to pass through and one that took three. Great Portland Street was a particular pinchpoint, a most frustrating finale trying to turn the corner back into Oxford Street. And I was only going a few stops, so imagine the crushing effect on anyone trying to ride route 390 from Victoria to Euston, because in central London taking the bus can be a disastrous choice.
It could just have been a day 1 snarl-up, alternatively this was the start of half term so traffic was likely lighter than usual. You can't draw too many conclusions from only two journeys so I will come back in November and do this properly, several times, once things have bedded in. At present though, all the signs are that "no material change to journey time" is bolx.
For the vast majority of pedestrians and shoppers though, come on, this is great. Sorry to the taxis and sorry to those with accessibility needs and sorry to all the bus passengers who've just been sent all around the houses, but one day we'll wonder why it took so long to turn the nation's shopping street into somewhere you can simply walk along. [14 photos]
Every time the end of October comes round I realise that several attractions are about to close until next Spring, so if I want to visit I need to go now. This is great for me but bad for you as I end up blogging about somewhere you can no longer go. I've done this before with Camber Castle, the Chiltern Open Air Museum and 575 Wandsworth Road, so apologies but I'm doing it again. Harmondsworth Great Barn only opens on the second and fourth Sundays of the month from April to October, so I went yesterday but you won't be able to visit until 2027, sorry. Stick April 11th in your calendar now.
ENGLISH HERITAGE:Harmondsworth Great Barn Location: Manor Court, Harmondsworth UB7 0AQ [map] Open: 11am-4pm (2nd & 4th Sundays) (April-October) Admission: free (donation welcomed) Website:english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/harmondsworth-barn Four word summary: The cathedral of Middlesex Time to allow: up to an hour
What's extraordinary about Harmondsworth Great Barn isn't just how big it is - the largest timber-framed building in England - but also that it's still here. When the barn was built in 1426 these were open fields in the Colne Valley but it now finds itself half a mile from the M25, quarter of a mile from the M4 and, if Heathrow's expansion ever gets the go-ahead, 150 yards from the new Third Runway. It was built at the behest of the Bishop of Winchester to store sheaves of wheat and barley from local farms before threshing, ultimately to help fund Winchester College. And it's massive, a full 58 metres long with an exhilarating interior that once led Sir John Betjeman to describe it as the cathedral of Middlesex.
We know it was planned in 1425 because documents confirm two men called John att Oke and William Kyppyng travelled to Kingston to inspect trees before replacing the previous barn on the site. We know the oaks were cut down in spring 1426 because when they dated the timbers, that was that outer ring of growth. We know the work was complete by September 1427 because the tilers were paid a bonus for completing the roof so quickly. And we know it's 600 years old because a slew of events have been arranged to celebrate the sexcentenary including an architectural conference, a Birds of Prey Day and a visit by Gardeners' Question Time.
You'll find the Great Barn in the centre of the village of Harmondsworth, up a short dead end where the Manor used to be. Hop off the bus at the top of the High Street and aim for the village green, all part of the conservation area that's due to be ultra-marginally retained should the Airport's expansion plans prove successful. Keep both pubs to the left, perhaps wondering how they'd both stay in business should bulldozers eliminate their clientele. Admire St Mary's church, parts of which are very early Norman and whose front railings are currently festooned with 40 plastic poppies, twice as many as bedeck the green. And if you've come on the right day the gate at the end of the drive will be unlocked and you can come in.
The barn complex is a bit weird because when the old farm and its outbuildings were sold off in 1978 (sale price £67,000) the purchaser decided to create a mini trading estate on the site. Businesses formerly trading here include Ballast PLC and a herbal importer, their buildings boarded up and partially scaffolded, while a luxury car hire company continues to park up their sleek black Heathrow-bound minibuses opposite. And there beyond the car park is a very very long tiled barn, sleek but in a different way, hopefully with all three of its barn doors wide open. If so then volunteers will be waiting to welcome you at a trestle table, dishing out a brief information sheet (and also maybe a Quality Street if you're young enough).
"People normally say wow at this point," said the volunteer in charge of welcoming me, and she wasn't wrong. The barn is twelve bays long, 11½m wide and also 11½m high. It only becomes more incredible when you realise all the beams and timbers have been here since the days of Henry VI, all supported by foot-thick aisle posts standing on squared blocks of Reigate stone. We know from the original paperwork that the carpenters used 250 spykenalls, 350 fyfestrokenaylls and six woodcobbleeze to secure the main structure, also from modern counting that they needed 2800 nails to attach the outer boards and 40,000 tacks to fix the tiles. Each truss was numbered before being raised into position and you can still see four scratches on the fourth one along, or you can should a volunteer point it out which they probably will because they clearly love this place.
The Friends of Harmondsworth Barn were formed in 2005 after local MP John McDonnell convened a meeting to try to help save the building. English Heritage eventually took on both ownership and upkeep but the Friends do the day to day work, turning up to open the doors, organising the events and curating the interior. They have 24 bays to fill and each gets its own theme, so one has old maps, one has archaic agricultural tools and one's devoted to owls (because they have one in the roof called Ollie). Elsewhere you can listen in on eyewitness conversations, admire old tools, watch a short video, buy souvenir 600th birthday mugs or learn the name of today's horse, depending. One corner has a kettle, but I think that's just for the volunteers rather than general refreshments. Also fire extinguishers are prevalent, as might be expected, indeed the southern end of the barn burned partially in 1972 so the tiles and oak panels here are not the originals.
Last time I visited in 2014 the barn was packed full of scaffolding as part of English Heritage's full-on £½m restoration project. It looks so much better now, a testament both to them and to the medieval carpenters who built this place to last. It is an extraordinary survivor, and perhaps underappreciated by the wider population, hemmed in as it is in a dead end village on the edge of Hillingdon. Not all the amazing buildings in London are in the middle, some are right on the periphery... and opening up again after Easter, sorry.
