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A little bit of Nairobi in London’s Spitalfields
On the outskirts of Nairobi is a very special place, where orphaned baby elephants find safety and refuge… Thus I started a blog post last May about the amazing work being done at the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. Imagine how thrilled I was when many of those residents made their way, in sculptural form, to London’s Spitalfields Market!
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Celebrating Christmas in London and (a little way) beyond
Although we love to travel, we have always spent Christmas at home in England. Not for us the snowy ski slopes of the Alps, or the tropical shores of the Caribbean or Far East. Tempting as the latter sound, we save trips to warmer climes for February, when the long chilly season is really dragging. Christmas is a time for the comforts of home, and for family.
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Ruislip Woods: ancient woodland in suburbia
When the Domesday Book was written, in 1086, what is now the pleasant London suburb of Ruislip was known as Rislepe, ‘leaping place on the river where rushes grow’. The book also tells us that it had more pigs than human inhabitants. These pigs roamed the extensive woodlands; and Ruislip Woods remain to this day, although smaller than they once were.
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Gallery: a street art walk in Shoreditch
If you want to find street art in London (and I mean LOTS of street art) you could do far worse than to head to Shoreditch. This trendy (albeit some say ex-trendy) district is a mecca for enthusiasts, both those who create and those, like me, who go to admire.
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Gallery: the perfect simplicity of a spiral staircase
Sometimes (often?) photography is more about serendipity than anything else. A purposeful photo outing is enjoyable of course, and often reaps great rewards; but arguably we derive the most pleasure from finding an unexpected subject for our lens just by chance? I visited a London gallery that I hadn’t been to before. The exhibition was not especially inspiring, but I fell in love with the gallery's spiral staircase. Or perhaps more accurately, I fell in love with the photographic possibilities it presented.
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In for a penny: a visit to Kew Gardens
The Gardens at Kew in west London date back to the mid 18th century, when they were founded by George III’s mother Princess Augusta. Today the gardens’ plant collections are the most diverse of any botanic garden in the world.
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Gallery: the Chewing Gum Man
Artist Ben Wilson is the ‘Chewing Gum Man’. While he has produced many other artworks, it is his minute and detailed creations on discarded blobs of chewing gum that have brought him fame. And one of the best places to see them is on London’s Millennium Bridge.
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Gallery: the birds of St James’s Park
London is blessed with many parks and green spaces and every Londoner has a favourite. Mine is St James’s Park. I love it for its views, its sense of history, its beautiful lake, and for its birdlife. The park was originally created by King James I who had the marshland here drained to create a park for his palace at Whitehall, where he kept a collection of exotic animals including camels, crocodiles and even an elephant
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Gallery: encountering elephants in London parks
‘If you go down to the woods today …’ We all know that the ‘big surprise’ in the woods of that childhood ditty is a teddy-bears picnic. But what about a surprise in a park – what could that be? On a recent visit to London’s Green Park, the ‘big surprise’ for me was a herd of seventy elephants!
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Gallery: welcome to my wonderful world
I love to travel and see other lands; I love to spend time in the country, time by the sea, time among mountains or deserts. But I am a city girl. I was born in London and this is where I belong.
