A-Z of London Dates Dating our way through the alphabet.

Windmill gif
Animated with Loopcam for iPhone.

I must admit, the date we picked for E was purely chosen because the name intrigued me! It turned out to be an interesting afternoon.

Eel Pie Island, once a stopping point where Henry VIII filled up on eels and ale en route to Hampton Court, then scene of music legend in 1960s hosting everyone from George Melly to the Rolling Stones, is now home to a boat yard and a community including artists, inventor Trevor Baylis and the Mystery Jets.

Access to the island is only via a footbridge or by boat to the private moorings, and since its all private buildings there isn’t actually all that much to see on a normal day beyond some intriguingly creative looking residences, like the Loveshack below with its friendly cat.

The artists on the island hold an open studios twice a year, which would be a more interesting time to visit. The Eel Pie Island Artists website lists June dates for the next ones (no year is given so I am only assuming it is up to date!)

Luckily, the area offers plenty more in the way of enjoyable pursuits and things to explore for a date. From Eel Pie Island, we had a lovely wander along the north bank of the Thames. Along the way we enjoyed the gardens of York House, supped an ale on the riverside terrace of the delightful White Swan pub, admired Marble Hill House and Yelverton Lodge (there really are more stately homes around here than you can shake a stick at!), and finished up in ever-charming Richmond.

You can read more about Eel Pie Island, its history and its residents in this interesting article by Peter Watts from Time Out.

Location: Eel Pie Island is on the Thames near Twickenham. It’s a short walk from Twickenham railway station. Googlemap

Damage: No entry fee.

Tips: Why not make a food name themed date of it by combining a visit to nearby Ham House and Strawberry Hill?

Saturday 10 April 2010

On what felt like one of the last days of winter, Adam and I headed south for a refined letter D date in the rather posh Dulwich Village, with a trip to Dulwich Picture Gallery and a wander around the park.

Dulwich Picture Gallery is a civilised haven. The permanent collection was put together around the turn of the 19th century and has lots of rather important and lovely old master paintings including Reynolds, Gainsborough, Cuyp, Rubens and Poussin. What is particularly special is to see them in this setting: a purpose built gallery by Sir John Soane, with elegant proportions and skylights that set off the paintings to their best. It’s an exceedingly nice place to while away an afternoon.

Another type of haven, this one for parents and small children escaping the chilly weather, is the light and airy cafe in the park. I much enjoyed my cake, even if the atmosphere was rather lively after the peace of the gallery.

Location: Dulwich Picture Gallery is on Gallery Road in Dulwich Village. The Park is just across the road. North Dulwich train station is nearby (14 minutes from London Bridge station), and there are a number of buses.

Damage: Entry to permanent exhibition £5 per adult. (Another £4 includes the temporary exhibiton too, currently Paul Nash).

The gallery is closed on Mondays, except Bank Holidays,

Tips: Visit the nearby Crown and Greyhound pub which is absolutely lovely, full of light, mirrors and old wood, and big lazy dogs.

Also, if like me, you’re into Soane architecture, you absolutely must go to the fascinating Soane Museum - his house on Lincoln’s Inn Fields packed with his collections of antiquities. It’s wonderfully atmospheric.

Sunday 14 March 2010

For today’s C date I decided to go underground, taking Adam to Chislehurst Caves. A unique date - surely we shan’t find another venue with a druid’s altar, a subterranean hospital, a haunted pool, and a stolen kiss in a moment of total darkness in the company of strangers?

These are completely man-made caves, dating back over 8000 years in places with druid, roman and saxon sections. Their history is fascinating. They took form as mines for chalk and flint, and since then have served such diverse uses as munitions storage, mushroom farm, air raid shelter, concert venue and even Dr Who set.

It was evocative to imagine these as shelter to so many families during WWII, with up to 15000 people bunking down here in what must have been a cosy, if cramped, underground town, complete with a church, shops and hospital.

It must have formed a very atmospheric venue for concerts in the 1960s, including shows by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix on the tiny stage we saw hewn into the rock.

They also now have a Live Role Play venue called Labyrinthe in part of the caves, which explained the vampiric looking folks in the tea room.

I love this kind of strange old tourist attraction with its enthusiastic guides, mannequin scenes, gift shop and a healthy disregard for having safety ropes everywhere. I loved how they trusted us not to run off into the 22 miles of mazelike passages, and gave out paraffin lamps so we could find our way down the unlit tunnels.

Location: The caves are a short walk from Chislehurst train station, 20-30 minutes by train from London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross.

Damage: £5 each for adults. Entrance is by guided tour only - you’d get lost in a minute otherwise. Tours leave on the hour from 10am ‘til 4pm and take just under an hour. You can get a pot of tea for two in the cafe for £1.80, and the home made Victoria sponge looked splendid.

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays outside school holidays.

Tips: It’s a little uneven under foot in many places, so don’t do as a girl did today and wear 6 inch heels.

Sunday 21 February 2010

Today was Adam’s first crack at organising an A-Z date, and we’ve had a lovely time with the letter B. He very sweetly made me Breakfast in Bed this morning, then we headed down to Brick Lane for a wander, and then onto the main activity of the day: Bowling.

We went to Rowan’s in Finsbury Park, which is exactly as it should be - all neon signs, children’s birthday parties, Americana and blue raspberry Slush Puppies. It’s a laid back and friendly place.

What fun! Sadly I remain rubbish at bowling, but that doesn’t make it much less enjoyable.

Location: Finsbury Park

Damage: £6 each

Tips: Other London bowling alleys include All Star Lanes (in Holborn, Bayswater and Brick Lane) and Bloomsbury Bowling. These are rather more hip and trendy places, where you can bowl along to a rockabilly soundtrack. It’s definitely worth booking in advance for either of these as they are very popular.

Saturday 6 February 2010

We’ve not gotten to B yet, Adam currently being in NYC. For now, there’s still mileage in A, I thought it worth mentioning a great, nerdy A date we did last year: an open day at Acton Depot, where London Transport Museum keep all their stuff that isn’t in the museum.

Obviously a mecca for nerds of the transport kind, its also a fascinating place for nerds of my kind: graphic design, social history and generally cool stuff. There’s loads of great old signs and maps, architects models of underground stations, dusty machines and thingamajigs, and a huge warehouse of assorted buses, trams and tube trains, some of which you can ride on.

They also have the art library and poster archive for London Transport. It’s amazing how much lovely and very stylish stuff they have, ranging from that brilliant 1939 Man Ray poster, to the enticing vistas of ‘Metroland’, and recent commissions like David Shrigley’s scribble. It’s a fantastic archive of art and graphic design which exists thanks to the visionary Frank Pick who started commissioning the best artists and designers back in 1908. And to TfL’s great credit, that is something they continue to do now. If you can’t make it to the depot, you can explore the collection online on the museum site.

The depot holds a few open days each year. The next is on the weekend of 13-14 March, and is themed ‘Suburbia’.

A model of Kingsway, central London, with the tramway that used to run under the street.

Location: Acton Town, West London

Damage: £10 each for adults, free for kids

Tips: It gets pretty busy with kids and anoraks, so arrive early or book tickets in advance to beat the queue. Check the website for details.

Sunday 31 January 2010

Our A-Z dating project got off to a nice start today with a double A in Chelsea.

I love browsing junk shops, but had never been to a proper antiques fair before, and the monthly Adam’s Antique Fair, in the beautiful surroundings of Chelsea Town Hall, seemed an excellent start to the alphabet. There were all kinds of pretty and curious old things to look through: old maps, vintage embroidery, original 1960s watercolour children’s book illustrations, and more glitzy costume jewellery than you could shake a stick at.

It would have been worth a visit just to see inside the building. We also enjoyed a pot of tea in proper china in the tea rooms. I was utterly charmed by a tiny girl helping out the vintage-clad waiting staff. She didn’t know how to spell ‘Earl Grey’ so drew a picture of a teapot in her notepad.

It was worth the effort of withstanding the tempting cakes, as we had to head to the second part of today’s A themed date and leave plenty of room for some lip-smacking southern American grub at the convivial Big Easy. Our project is off to a great start!

Location: Kings Road, Chelsea

Damage: Antiques fair - £4 each / Massive portions of BBQ ribs, lobster, fries, coleslaw, a frozen raspberry margarita and homestyle lemonade - less than £40 for two including service

Tips: If you can’t get to the monthly Adam’s Antiques Fair, head to Alfies Antique Market which is open Tuesday - Saturday every week in Marylebone.

(Sorry for the rubbish picture quality in this post - I’ll have to take my proper camera out in future and not rely on the iPhone one!)

Sunday 24 January 2010