Queen's Walk Window Gardens

At the moment there are a lot more plants than usual on the Southbank. I'd be less vague but the website for Wayward Gardens is not exactly detail-heavy (I can't find any info about when this finishes, unfortunately, but given that stuff's growing I'd hope it'll be there for a while yet). 

As far as I can tell, they're an organisation that gets people to sign up to having allotments/window boxes and they're in London as part of the Southbank Festival of Neighbourhood. I managed to be there on one of the rare sunny days and got some decent pictures:

              

Website: http://www.waywardplants.org/windows 

The Crystal

A few weeks ago, I decided to go off to Docklands for a wander. Oh, no, hang on: I decided to go to Woolwich to walk through their Thames Foot Tunnel as I've done the Greenwich one a few times (no photos as the entrances to both have various scaffolding and works going on, and the insides basically look...the same). 

Of course, when you walk through a tunnel you end up in a different place to where you started, so I ended up at King George V Dock and went on the DLR to Pontoon Dock, which is where the Thames Barrier Park is (that'll be another entry). Eventually, I made my long and meandering way round to Royal Victoria Docks. I was going to go on the cable cars to North Greenwich - this wasn't actually planned, I didn't realise until I got to RVD that's where it was...) but it was too windy. Another time...

Next to the cable car station (is that the word? Hmmmm) was a building with a lot of sharp points called The Crystal, and because the cable car was denied to me and I couldn't be bothered to queue for however long it might be before it reopened (people were waiting there! Why? It was a very windy day!) I decided to pop in to find out what the pointy thing was. 

The Crystal is a 'sustainable cities initiative' by Siemens, a sustainably-run building with information and interactive displays and game things designed to look at the possible future of cities and how they can become less environmentally...iffy.

When you go in, they give you a swipe card to start all the information display thingmabobs (I failed to take a picture), which is good for small children running around the place, hahaha. I think it's probably most appealing if you a) love cities (I do), b) are interested in sustainability (I am) and/or c) are a massive hippy (I am). 

It's an interesting space with plenty of electronic things to look at and press, although I would say younger children (say below 8) might get bored quite quickly - although there are things to play with, if you don't get the context behind them you'll just be looking at some blinking lights. To be honest, even if you do get the context there are still a lot of blinking lights:

 

The information boards and games are really interesting, and although it can be slightly depressing when you consider how little most people are prepared to do (look, I live in a place where people can't tell the difference between normal and recycling bins...), it can also be encouraging as a lot of the changes that need to be made are relatively simple and just require a bit of thought. 

A lot of thought and design has obviously gone into the building and the displays, but I think it might get slightly missed being all the way out in Royal Victoria Docks. If you are interested in the future of cities and sustainability, it's worth a visit. And depending on the weather you might get a chance to go on the cable cars as well :).

Crystal website: http://www.thecrystal.org/_html/index.html

St Alban the Martyr

I came across this church completely by accident the other week. I thought I knew Holborn pretty well - I've been walking from Holborn to London Bridge for over three years now - but this was still a surprise.

It was built in the 1860s by William Butterfield, although a large part of the current church dates from the 1950s as it was bombed in 1941.

The exterior of the church is mostly red brick, and the interior benefits from large windows and a gorgeous ceiling and a Hans Feibusch mural at the altar end.

It's hidden away from the main roads around Holborn (on Brooke Street - near Chancery Lane tube), and it's beautifully peaceful.

Stave Hill

Stave Hill is out near Canada Water, which is in the borough of Southwark. It's a very odd place, the kind of thing you don't know is there unless you a) live there or b) find it by accident when you're wandering and have failed to look at a map (ahem). 

(actually, Wikipedia tells me it's part of Russian Dock Woodland, so I've learned something new today!)

The hill itself is constructed from rubble left over from the clearance of the docks (it dates from 1985), and from what information I can find, it pretty much looks like it was created to give people a good view of the buildings at Docklands and of the surrounding area. I appreciate this a lot - it can be quite hard to find places above street level to get decent photos. 

When you go up the hill to the viewing platform at the top there's also an awesome relief map of the former docks (by Michael Rizzello). 

And when you've come back down you can go for a walk around the woods and Stave Hill Ecological Park, although I'm not entirely sure where one ends and the other begins (that's the problem with not looking at maps until after you've been somewhere...). Still, here are a few photos from one or the other:

Lloyds Building

The Lloyds Building on Lime Street (very near the Gherkin) is an interesting one. It used to be one of my least favourite buildings, but I guess over time I've just got used to it and now I can appreciate the structure and I like the shapes (also, much like the Barbican, it's good for those times you want to pretend you're in a sci-fi film). 

It dates from 1986 (you could probably have guessed the decade, right?) and was designed so that as much infrastructure as possible was on the outside - lifts, air con, plumbing etc. 

                                           

PS: I looked up where the name Lime Street came from in case it was something interesting, but like most of the streets around there it just refers to what was sold there. 
  

The Monument

The Monument was built between 1671 and 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London. It's a 61 metre high Doric column designed by Christopher Wren, with inscriptions on three of the four sides of the plinth and a sculpture on the west side. It has a gilt-bronze flaming urn at the top, which looks fantastic on a sunny day (first pic not from today - the sky wasn't quite this blue!).

I walk past Monument about once a week, and I have been meaning to go up for years. As the weather had finally improved and it was a lovely day, I thought today might as well be the day. What I didn't realise is that there are three hundred and eleven (!!!) steps up to the top. This is not for a) those scared of heights or b) those who don't see the appeal in walking up a neverending narrow spiral staircase. 

However, if you are ok with heights and can put up with the stairs, the views from the top are amazing. I'm just a bit annoyed I couldn't get a decent shot of the Shard because of where the sun was. Still, at only £3 (!! View From the Shard is £25!) all this complaining is a bit churlish, so let's get on with the pictures. 

In case it isn't obvious, I highly recommend this activity. Preferably with some maltesers ready for when you get back down. 

More info: http://www.themonument.info/history/