Baker Street – Swiss Cottage Walk – 26.04.2014

“The game is afoot.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, Adventure of the Abbey Grange

A game was indeed afoot, we were on the trail of Baker Street once again. We were picking up we had left off just a month or so ago, so we could explore this infamous area. With my deerstalker hat on and my investigating shoes, I was about to discover yet more about London and what it had in store for us… The detective Sherlock Holmes may have found his cases them “Elementary” but uncovering London is a whole different thing. Outside Baker Street Underground Station we were greeted by a rather handsome bronze statuette of Mr Holmes in all his glory. The great detective was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who based his character Holmes on Dr. Joseph Bell. He was a surgeon who had an ability to diagnose his patients before he had the full facts of their case in question. He introduced companions such as Dr John Watson and the police detectives Lestrade and Gregson who often called on Holmes for his assistance. Doyle, wrote the stories from 1887 until 1927, although there is one famous story where Holmes meets his nemesis Moriarty at Reichenbach falls and Holmes could have disappeared for some time… perhaps that one you should read!

Walking on from Baker Street Station, where the worlds first underground railway was built, we found ourselves approaching a large green domed building. This was “Madame Tussauds”, where we can rub shoulders with the rich and famous, albeit with their Waxwork lookalike! Madame Tussaud started life in the early C18th in France creating models for the sister of Louis XVI. The French revolution changed the career of Tussaud and eventually the models became a traveling exhibition, which came to London in the C19th. The display was known as the “Baker Street Bazaar”, where people had could pay a mere sixpence to get in to meet and greet a model of the rich and famous of their day. It moved to the green domed building in 1884. Passing on from the famous waxworks, we shortly came across the “Royal Academy of Music”.

From 2014 – 26.04.2014 – Baker Street – Swiss Cottage Walk

We could not hear a myriad of sounds emanating from the building which was a shame, because I almost expected it, but I suppose it is soundproofed 😉 . The Academy has been in existence since 1822 and has a set of wonderful graduates that are too numerous to mention, but some of them include Sir Elton John, Annie Lennox, Sir Henry Wood, Katherine Jenkins and Dame Myra Hess. We continued to wander down the Marylebone road, which despite the lovely surroundings of the Georgian houses that were along the sides, the traffic and it fumes did not really make this part of the walk that enjoyable. We therefore decided to take a diversion towards “Regents Park”,  where we decided to take a short rest and have a picnic in the park on the warm sunny afternoon, it was a such bliss (and highly recommended I can assure you!)

Lands held by Henry VIII, which were used for hunting up until 1646, eventually undertook a transformation later in its life when John Nash set about to redesign the entire area. Nash was architect to the crown and the Prince Regent, he redeveloped the landscape and even planned for a second home as a summer palace for a Prince Regent. This, however, never happened and eventually in early C19th, the general public were allowed into some of the park and for a few days a week. Today only 2 villas remain from John Nash’s original concept of the park, which is a shame. I wonder what it would have been like when it was first created, was it as beautiful as it is now?

From 2014 – 26.04.2014 – Baker Street – Swiss Cottage Walk

Sitting by one of the gorgeous stone fountains, we let the sun beam down on us and watch the gentle breeze sprinkle the water spray on the plants beside us. However, we could not laze about forever, so we decided to keep walking. It really is a lovely park, blooming flowers and amazingly kept grass. I am not surprised it was so busy with people jogging, taking there dog for a walk or just enjoying a short stroll! As we past through the formal gardens we came out into more open land, were people seemed to be playing cricket and running around enjoying the sun! As we kept strolling along the path, I looked on my left and spotted through some iron railings some beautiful deer (or at least I think they were!). We were walking past London Zoo, which seems to be very odd next to a public park! At the early C19th the London Zoological society established a menagerie in the park, it was eventually granted a Royal charter by King George in 1829. The public were not allowed into the zoo for another two decades and among its regular visitors was Charles Darwin, the zoo has changed over the years and its focus on saving endangered species. When we peeked through the next set of railings we were treated to watch to wonderful penguins as it was “World Penguin Day”!

It almost felt sad to come out of the park as it was such a lovely afternoon, but we soon treated with walking across the “Regents Canal”. John Nash who designed Regents Park, was on the board of directors for the canal company and was able to incorporate this stretch of water which was built to join up with the Paddington Branch of the Grand Union Canal. If we had chosen to walk the canal it would have led us to Little Venice where we had walked the a few weeks ago! It is sometimes nice to see the canal from a different angle. Once we had cross the bridge we were once again out onto the road, where I spotted the “Belsize Walk”, if followed its entire route would take us to Hampstead Heath. Something to save for another day!

From 2014 – 26.04.2014 – Baker Street – Swiss Cottage Walk

Across the way was “Primrose Hill”, another branch of “Regents Park”, which makes up its mighty 197 hectares. When we were at the base of the hill, we did not realise how high it was, particularly as the trees surrounding it seemed to hide it’s slope. The hill was captured in one authors imagination…

“I missed my way among the streets, and presently saw down a long avenue, in the half-light of the early dawn, the curve of Primrose Hill. On the summit, towering up to the fading stars, was a third Martian, erect and motionless like the others.”
The War Of The Worlds,1898, H.G.Wells

As no martian stood staring down on us, we decided to climb it. We were well rewarded, as it has a spectacular view from the top. William Blake is quoted here to “I have conversed with the spiritual Sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill”. The panorama maybe of the City of London and other assorted buildings but nevertheless it is still spectacular. The hill also boasts something else dramatic where Iolo Morganwg founded “Gorsedd of the Bards” who were supposedly to be guardians of the language and culture of Wales. 🙂

We walked from here on the roads mostly to Swiss Cottage. The Swiss Cottage was originally a coaching inn which was built in the 1840’s when there was a craze for “cottage ornée”. The area had a number of well-to-do residential mansions, but gradually the place altered with the road being widened and underground station being built. The pub is Grade II listed and still serves the odd drop of beer! We finished our afternoon walk at Swiss cottage, without a drink at the cottage I hasten too add!

The Route we walked is as follows –

View all the photos by clicking on the photo below –

2014 – 26.04.2014 – Baker Street – Swiss Cottage Walk

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Aylesbury Walk – 21.04.2014

“The vale of Aylesbury was drowsing beneath a slowly deepening shroud of mist. Above it the hills, their crests rounded and shaded by silver and rose coppices, seemed to have set in them great smoky eyes of flame where the last rays burned in them.” Blinds Man Bluff, H.R Wakefield

Mist did not surround us, instead the sun was the hung high in the sky over heads when we reached Aylesbury. We made our way from the station to start exploring the town centre to see what it might offer us on our walk for the day. As we did so, we started walking along “Friarage Passage”, which immediately conjured up images of friars in rough brown robes chanting in latin! I was not far wrong with my imaginings, as a Friary once stood here from the C14th to C16th! The passage let us into Rickford Hill, where we could see the front of the former Friary, which is the oldest building in Aylesbury, even though the front has been reconstructed. This reminds me of St Ethelburgas, which has original frontage but inside has been modernised!. From here we turned into the Biscuit or is that a quick drink street, no sorry I mean bourbon street LOL. In fact its name has nothing to do with anything edible at all!

The road was originally named Waterhouse Street and was renamed in honour of the French King Louis XVIII, a member of the Bourbon dynasty. King Louis had fled France after the revolution to a life of exile in Italy. He had to move on once again after Napoleons invasion when he fled to England, he eventually returned to France when the Monarchy had been restored. We turned away from the Bourbons and headed down temple street. Sadly most of the historic buildings have now gone and a supermarket now stands where Tudor buildings once stood. However, without the demolition of those houses, a 9 foot ditch that once was part of the original Town Defences prior to the Tudor era would have never been found! In the distance we could see a large spire of the local Church, which looked worthwhile investigating, but we saved that for later in our walk. We therefore decided to meander down “George Street”. This road, like Bourbon Street, has also had been renamed, it seems Aylesbury are not ones to settle with original names for long!

George Street was originally “Hog Lane”, where it was discovered after archaeological excavation, that the old Church cemetery reached as far as this particular lane. Perhaps the renaming of the road to honour George III from Hog Lane was a good thing after all 🙂 We had finally reached Aylesbury’s town centre, which had some fascinating features. Particularly a large Water Clock, personally I could not quite work out how it worked! Walking on from the clock we were suddenly confronted with two large bronze statues, the first being John Hampden. John Hampden seems to have been a key player in the English Civil War, dare I say it, one of the men who had a pivotal roles in actually being responsible for it?? He refused to pay a certain shipping tax to Charles 1 and went onto defend Aylesbury in the Battle of Holmans Bridge in 1642. Definitely a key figure in the defeat of the Royalists…. On the other side looking to John Hampden is the statue of Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden, Benjamin Disraeli. I cannot seem to find much history as to why Disraeli is associated with Aylesbury, but if anyone can help, please comment!

From 2014 – 21.04.2014 – Aylesbury Walk

We felt that we would leave the town square to investigate the Church, we spotted a notice that Aylesbury had been dug up on yet another excavation! This time it did not reveal town defences, but there had been a Roman settlement in the area! In fact the Roman Road Akeman Street had run close by, nice to know that I had found another one after finding Watling Street on a previous jaunt. I am fascinated by the road names in Aylesbury as we found ourselves now walking down “Pebble Lane” which did sound rather quaint, I am still unsure where the name derives from but it does sound lovely whatever! When we finally reached the Church, it was rather a lovely feeling that this C13th building did not feel out of place in its surroundings at all. As we looked around the church we could see that the some of the beautiful stained glass windows had suffered damaged and had various bits and pieces replaced over time but it certainly did not detract from the look and feel of the Church. Amazingly the bells are still intact in the belltower and the oldest one dates from the C17th, such a pity we were not treated to their lovely chimes 😦

We turned into Church Street and passed by “The Chantry”, a beautiful looking house which now belongs to a Charity to home those in need in Aylesbury. On the opposite side of the road was the Buckinghamshire Museum, which we thought might investigate. The museum itself was founded in the C19th by the Buckinghamshire Archeological Society and was eventually homed in the old Aylesbury Grammar School where it is still situated today. It underwent a large refurbishment in 1995 and when we went into visit it is still looking good in 2014 🙂 The Museum is well worth if you are in the area, we definitely did not have time to explore all of it! We noted that there was a Roald Dahl exhibition area, which intrigued me, apparently he lived nearby to Aylesbury, so I will need to find out more on another walk. Just past the Buckinghamshire museum we came across yet another piece of Aylesbury history, when we spotted a beautifully crafted stained glass window. It belonged to the “Aylesbury Literary Institution and Club” as I could see a rather swanky wine bar next door, I was rather unsure if the club was still established. On the contrary the Wine Bar uses the clubs premises and even provides refreshments for them, fulfilling the original object of the club for “the promotion of social intercourse and the provision of refreshments” 🙂

We found ourselves walking back into the town centre once more, where we found yet another clocktower in the centre. This time it was not powered by water, but was old fashioned and the clock was housed in Gothic stone architecture. Beyond the clock there were a set of large ornate and grand buildings, whose style looked slightly out of place in this little market square. The structure was originally built by the Aylesbury Market Company and it was set up as a grand Corn Exchange. Unfortunately the profits of this venture were never realised once the agricultural depression of the 1870’s took its hold. In order for the corn exchange to be built, a coaching inn once stood in its place during the C17th, which would not have looked out of place at all! We found ourselves walking through the town once again and eventually reaching “Aylesbury Vale Park”, where we decided to sit for a while, enjoy the green space, the sun and eat some lunch. The park was quite busy, but that was probably because the leisure centre sits at one end of the park, but nevertheless it is nice to have some green in amongst the town 🙂

From 2014 – 21.04.2014 – Aylesbury Walk

Once we left the park behind we found a very large pringle crisp shaped building :-D, the Waterside Theatre. This theatre has not long been open and its in opening season hosted some beautiful entertainment including the ballet Swan Lake. However, this theatre also hosts more than just theatrical numbers, it is also known home to the famous Aylesbury Friars Music Club. What is that I hear you cry??? Well in these words –

“Friars Aylesbury was the gig of gigs………crack Aylesbury and the Greyhound in Croydon and you’ve cracked England”

Steve Harley, Cockney Rebel

The Friars Club in Aylesbury was the place to be, a musical sensation, a club that played a role the careers of many individuals and bands in their early careers. With people such as David Bowie, Genesis, Blondie, The Buzzocks and many more playing Aylesbury, the atmosphere must have been just rocking! The club evolved and has lived in 4 sites, with the Waterside Theatre as it’s current home, bands still playing there today. I will need to look out to see who is playing there next 🙂 ! As we looked away from this rock and roll theatre, we spotted a bronze statue of Ronnie Barker which was sitting gazing at the Waterside building. Ronnie Barker is honoured in Aylesbury as he started his acting career in Aylesbury when he joined the Aylesbury Repertory Company and made his debut at the original Aylesbury theatre in 1948!

We decided to walk around the theatre and discovered exactly why it was called the “Waterside Theatre”, that is because it is next to a canal! I was not expecting to find a canal tucked away behind this grand building. We had discovered the Wendover arm of the Grand Union Canal, which was rather nice as we had walked quite a number of miles on the lots of other parts of the Grand Union! This particular branch flows from the village of Wendover and meets the main Grand Union Canal at Tring, I am unsure if this is longer than the paddington branch of the Grand Union that I encountered? Like all the other canals, this was built for commercial reasons in approximately the late C18th and was to bring water and goods to the villages along the Wendover arm of the canal. It also fell into disuse and is now being restored to its former glory and is being used mainly for pleasure boats.

We followed the canal for some time, it was very pleasant and quite a change from the Hustle and bustle of Aylesbury. It was beautiful and green and lush each side of the canal. The locks were much narrower than some of the ones we had seen previously and only had a single lock gate, so only the small narrow boats would be able to navigate this part of the Grand Union. We felt that we would turn away from the canal as we would walk the canal properly at another time as it was late in the afternoon, it really does deserve some proper time to enjoy it 🙂 Particularly as the further we walked away from the town centre the landscape alters and becomes more countryside and relaxed! We therefore took an opportune path off the towpath which was to take us back to the urban streets of Aylesbury. It was from here we walked on the outskirts of town and back around to the station where we finished our amble around Aylesbury for the day 🙂

Please feel free to click on the photo below for the photos –

2014 – 21.04.2014 – Aylesbury Walk

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