One of the advantages of the current lock-down is the time we have to explore our local area. There are sights and beautiful corners we never believed existed until now. Does it really have to take a pandemic to discover them?
I’ve already written posts about discovering parks and open spaces like Fryent (https://longoio3.com/2020/05/06/the-countryside-in-the-city/), Welsh Harp (https://longoio3.com/2019/10/23/i-laghi-di-londra/) and the Duke of Chandos’ estate (https://longoio3.com/2019/07/15/il-duca-piu-ricco-dinghilterra/).
My curiosity was aroused by reports of a lake at Ruislip. Last week I set out to explore its woods and its lido. Though not exactly the Venice lido, Ruislip’s has its own very special charm and is encircled by gorgeous woodland through which a miniature railway wends its sylvan way.
The lido was originally opened as a feeder reservoir for the Grand Union canal in 1811. (See my post on that at https://longoio3.com/2020/06/05/can-do-canal-walk/ ). However, it did not achieve this job satisfactorily and the role was stopped in 1851.
In 1933, during the thirties craze for open-air activities the lake was inaugurated as a lido complete with boating and swimming facilities. It’s truly the nearest London may get to emulating the Costa Del Sol with its sweet sandy beach complete with pirate ship!
The enchanting walk round the lake through the ancient woods has a number of small jetties where one can observe and feed the wetland denizens of the lake.
It also includes a fascinating ‘planets’ trail marking in scale the distances between the planets of our solar system. Thus, there’s a long walk between Neptune and Uranus but towards the end Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury are just a few feet from each other!
In happier times I hope to return and take a ride on the UK’s longest stretch of one foot gauge miniature railway and perhaps even take a dip in the lake waters. May both facilities reopen soon…together with the cafe and bar.
Hello Francis,
sorry to be asking more questions not relevant to your current posts. In researching further the Romantics in Bagni di Lucca, I was hoping as, as before with Shelley, you would mind giving me the wording (too difficult to make out more than the first line after his name) of the plaque on the Villa Webb Bonvisi which says Byron stayed there during the summer of 1822. Also, I’m wondering if you could direct me to any more information about this stay, as my research tells me Byron lived elsewhere that summer: Pisa from August/September 1821, having moved there from Ravenna. Sometime in May 1822, following news of the death of his daughter Allegra, he and Teresa Guiciolli moved to Montenero on the outskirts of Livorno, for the summer. They returned to Pisa the first week of July to pack up their house at Pisa. Shelley drowned July 8 and Byron never returned to Montenero. He was with Trelawny and Hunt for Shelley’s funeral on the beach at Viareggio August 16. Then he and the remaining Pisan colony moved to Genoa in September of 1822. It was from Genoa that Byron left for Greece in July of 1823. I just wondered if you had any any information either on how the plaque came to be, or on Byron’s visit.
thanking you in advance,
Rachael
Hi Rachael the plaque on the Villa Webb says ‘Georg(sic) Gordon Byron in the summer of 1822 found in the serene peacefulness of this land a truce from the anxieties of his life’. See also my post at https://longoio3.wordpress.com/2020/04/23/londons-mount-ida/ and https://longoio3.wordpress.com/2018/08/02/10215/ and https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/29/claire-claremont-the-epilogue/ and https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/allegra-con-spirito/ and https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/loves-philosophy/ and https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/a-sea-change/ and https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/webb-post/
See also my item on Byron’s plaque at https://longoio3.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/bagni-di-lucca-and-its-stand-against-racism/
Much appreciated, Francis. Thank you again.
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