It was beginning to look remarkably like Xmas with all the lights having been switched on down the main streets and shopping areas. The Winter Wonder Land in Hyde park and the South Bank Xmas Market were in full swing and the shops were bustling with people eager to get those pressies in the bag. Folk rave about the Xmas Markets in Germany, Holland etc but London has a lot to offer that rivals this in IMHO.
It was the 1st December so off we went to get a twee. With high ceilings and full height window in the flat we were going large!
There was nothing twee about the tree we struggled to get up the stairs and into the flat but it filled the space perfectly 🙂
Arty Sal had made some brilliant decorations and the finished tree looked magnificent all decked out and lights switched on. Christmas had officially started.
The plan was to go to Cornwall to spend Xmas with my mum so we didn’t need to worry about baking etc and could spend time enjoying what London had to offer.
First it was New Bond Street with all its finery and then, drum role, it was the grand Xmas Light ‘switch on’ at the Warwick Castle, our Local. The official duty is the privilege of the ‘Local of the Year’ who this year was Pete, or Irish Pete as everyone knows him. It was a great evening and all the locals turned out to celebrate the start of Xmas.
We strolled down to the Winter Wonder Land in Hyde Park one evening. It was mid week and absolutely packed with revellers in the Beer Keller tents with Umpa bands adding to the Christmas spirit. The site is enormous, the rides huge and there are plenty of pit stop bars. Two that particularly grabbed our interest were the ’roundabout bar’ – sit and watch the world go by (about every 3-4 mins) – and the Tipi bar with its brilliant fire pits inside the tent and some great music playing. Winter Wonder Land is well worth visiting.
We had an excursion down to Eel Pie Island, an island in the middle of the Thames at Twickenham. We spotted in the Time Out Magazine that it opens up to the public twice a year, a weekend in December being one such occasion.
The Island is only accessible via boat or a foot bridge from the Twickenham bank of the Thames (near The Barmy Arms where many happy rugger bugger hours have been spent over the years). Eel Pie Island used to have a hotel where many famous names performed at the dance hall between 1957 and 1967. The island has a fascinating history; take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_Pie_Island for more detail.
Today, the island is mainly residential and home to a range of artists. It also has a rowing club and a boat yard – I had a lot of joy fumbling around that.
The open day exhibited much of their art and craft – really talented and imaginative people – and a small but perfectly formed Christmas Fair with mulled wine and much merriment. It’s a beautifully qwerty place and one for the ‘must visit’ list.
Once off the island there’s a very nice craft ale shop / bar on the Twickenham High Street; it would have been rude not to stop and have a couple of cans :-).
We’d also heard a lot about the Churchill Arms near Kensington so on the way back we stopped off to see what all the fuss was about. It’s famed for not only being a great Fullers boozer but also being the pub sporting the most Christmas decorations in London. Wow! you can see why. It is covered from head to toe with Christmas tree’s and a nice drop of London Pride beer to help savour the moment. Oh and a Thai restaurant at the back of the pub – heaven :-). I think we went back a few times …
Christmas parties were in full swing at work but also with friends and we had one very pleasant weekend weekend down near Broadstairs on the Kent coast with a bunch of friends. It was posh nosh fine dining at a culinary school and we stayed overnight at a hotel right on the coast.
We had a great evening and the following morning the skies were blue and the sea was like a millpond (when we arrived the previous evening it was shedding it down with rain and dark so we couldn’t see anything) so we decided to walk along the coast to Broadstairs Town & Harbour and then back along the beach (as the tide had gone out by then). The weekend overlapped with my birthday; what a lovely way to spend it.
….and back into London for some more Christmas lights before heading down to Cornwall for Christmas.
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