A Quirky Day Out in London

When I arrived at King’s Cross station, I wasn’t expecting to visit two rather quirky places nearby.

Wilding in the City

Camley Street Natural Park is a wild green space right in the middle of this busy and crowded part of London. It is a wetland haven for wildlife with Yellow Flag Irises abundant around the ponds. We sat drinking coffee on the bank of the Regent’s Canal – a peaceful if slightly strange spot! Only the noise of the city gave away the location.

An Old Church with a difference

From there, just another five-minute walk took us to St Pancras Old Church. Jim advised me that the Beatles had one of the last photos taken of them as a group, in front of the ornate arches of the church entrance. So, of course, we both had our photos taken in the exact same spot.

The cemetery there has a peculiar history!

Apparently, it attracted body snatchers so many dearly departed were deprived of resting in peace.

In the 1860s, the Midland Grand Railway built King's Cross Station and wanted to expand the site of the railway over the burial ground.

So they decided to retrieve what was left of those bygone citizens whose remains were, inconveniently, standing - or in this case lying - in the path of progress.

The architect, Arthur Blomfield, was assigned the job of unearthing the remaining bodies and then re-burying them in a massive pit. He decided to give the job to his assistant at the time, the young Thomas Hardy. This was before his novels were famous so he wasn’t in a position to argue.

Hardy went to work overseeing the dismantling of many of the churchyard's tombs.

The new burial ground was formed and an ash tree was planted at their centre.

A number of the tombstones were piled together in a circle and an ash tree was planted at their centre. This became known as "The Hardy Tree”.

As you can see from the photo, the tree seems to have been cut down which is a shame.

From there we had a more conventional day, lunching at Browns in Covent Garden (where Jim persuaded me to overindulge with a chocolate fondant!) and going to see the new improved Sainsbury’s Wing of the National Gallery. This is the one that King Charles had called a ‘monstrous carbuncle’ when it was first proposed.

Today I find it looks fine from the outside and underwhelming on the inside.

We headed straight for the impressionist art and although many are very familiar to me, I could never tire of seeing one of the thirty paintings Monet did of the haystacks. Of all the daytimes and seasons, this is Winter sunset. Gorgeous.  

What a wonderful day.

Have you been to any quirky places in London?