Like if You Love Your Neighbourhood

My London, my true London home, is not the one that flashes in people’s minds when they think of the city: I don’t turn the corner and see Westminster Abbey or Buckingham Palace. It’s also a bit of a trek to catch a glimpse of the London Eye, and Madam Tussauds is a fair jaunt down the Euston Road that takes up to an hour by car; even though it’s only four miles, the traffic can be terrible. And the closest I’ve come to see the Queen, soon to be our longest running monarch, was actually on the Isle of Wight!

Terraced houses in "the north."

No, my London is my wonderful neighbourhood “north.” Not far, mind you, from the centre of tourist activity; four miles and I’ll be sitting in a sidewalk café in Covent Garden watching the buskers perform operettas. In 3.5 miles I could be looking at the Magna Carta or handwritten Beatles lyrics in the British Library. In just a tick over two miles I can be at the Silicon Roundabout—London’s  new innovation hub. And if I were the sporting type I live just over a mile from Emirates Stadium; on most nights when Arsenal plays at home we can hear the shouts from our front porch.

Along the New River Walk

Oh, and the canal is just a short one-mile walk to see the narrow boats emitting puffs of smoke from their fuel stoves on chilly mornings. You can stroll for six miles from one end to the other, and trust me, we have. Even closer is the New River Walk, an aqueduct originally meant to bring water from Hertfordshire to the local well and just 15 minutes away, a wonderful oasis that I simply love to stroll through to get to one of my favourite neighbourhood pubs, The Marquess Tavern.

The Marquess at the foot of the New River Walk.

Another favourite walk is to Clissold Park, and there in under 10 minutes. We often circle the park and slow down to peer at the goats or the fallow deer kept there to the delight of many small children (and a few adults). In the summer the park is brimming with runners, prams, and foot and paw traffic that usually means the walk is more leisurely than active, but what great people-watching! (Walking there often leads to a conversation, had dozens of times, about getting a dog.)

The other evening I convinced Tim (as it was the last day of my extended weekend) to pop into the Rose and Crown, directly across from Stoke Newington Town Hall where we were married, for a glass of something cold after our stroll down Stoke Newington Church street. 

One of the many shops along Church Street.

The road is filled with tea shops, cafes, garden shops, and lovely independent stores selling books, clothes, gadgets, etc. (It has its share of real estate agents, too.) The street has a slight grungy edge to it—the road is narrow along with the shops, and it’s usually crowded and I’d say it’s not actually pretty, but it’s close to  home and it’s wonderful for its diversity. Oh, and the best part of making that journey—the Whole Foods Market!

My Whole Foods.

Our pause at the Rose and Crown meant that we ran into a local artist who we’d recently seen selling his art from a table just outside one of the entrances at Clissold Park and whom we had purchased some cards from; he happens to be a friend of a good friend, we found out by chatting with him, and Tim recognised him immediately at the pub. Stokie is full of artists—many of the shops display works by the locals which you can buy right off the walls—and Alex kindly invited us to a private view of five artists’ works next weekend. How’s that for neighbourhood hospitality!

The Rose and Crown.

The other morning I had to pop out to get some milk, and as I was heading down the stairs I had this moment of absolute joy living in my neighbourhood. It was not a warm day, but it wasn’t cold either and the air had that lovely smell of fresh-baked bread, in fact from the shop I was heading to, and it was quiet and pretty, and I fell in love all over again.

When you come to my London, well, I’ve got a few things to show you!

Deer at Clissold Park.