sleepy tiger

We took late summer holiday at Mary, Mark’s mother’s home between 6th and 10th September. We haven’t had very many hot days this summer. However, we had heard that heat wave would come at the beginning of the 2nd week of September. We travelled up to Bury St Edmunds on 6th September. Upon arrival at there, Mary came to the station and took us to Nowton Park where she regularly visits for a walk. We walked in the arboretum. There were a wide variety of trees, shrubs and conifers thriving and they looked great under the blue sky. We checked the weather forecast on Tuesday & Wednesday – heard that the temperature would rise up to 28 degree; we believed that London would have been even hotter. She took us to Long Melford Country Walk on ... read more

Mark has a privilege day – the day after the 2nd Bank Holiday – and it usually is sunny day every year. We decided to visit Regent Park on 1st June. Regent Park is the most memorable place for us – this is where we first went out together 26 years ago. We strolled through rose garden, Japanese water garden, sunken garden, etc on Queen Mary’s Garden and were blessed with a wide variety of scented old roses, clematis, lavenders and colourful flowers on the water-rock garden. Next, we walked around Boating Lake. Lots of paddle boats were out and driven by tourists – and we were greeted by a wide variety of waterfowls – herons, ducks, swans, glebes that looked very contended and pleasant under the sunny weather and in the lake surrounded by green. ... read more

We travelled to central London a couple of time last year to visit Wakehurst Place and Ashridge Estate, but have not gone into the West End since the pandemic began. We visited Holland Park near Kensington High Street several years ago and decided to visit there on 12th May. Firstly, we strolled around formal gardens next to Holland House. In Dutch Garden there were collections of two coloured, Pink/purple and white tulips and bed flowers and they were blooming beautifully in knotted gardens. Secondly, we went to Kyoto Garden, traditional Japanese zen garden. There were signs shown on the footpath – visitors are asked to walk around in the clockwise direction and not to stop especially on the stone bridge near the waterfall. Some people seemed to be ignoring signs – the annoyed visitor asked them ... read more

During the lockdown, I bought ‘Walking in London Park, Heath and Waterside’ by Peter Aylmer at WHSmith. We decided to do the trekking course around Enfield Chase via Trent Park on the 11th April. We had visited Trent Park several times and were familiar with woodland walk starting from the lake by the cemetery and various walking courses in Trent Park. After reaching Obelisk, we took the left on the T-junction and walked across Hadley Road. We followed the trail by Ash Wood and Duncan Wood. On 11th April, we saw several walkers along the trail. The surface of the footpath was dry but uneven; we had to stay careful around our foot, e.g. branches, left on the footpath. It was warm enough to do picnic; we had a picnic lunch in the Trent ... read more

Since restrictions have been gradually eased up we have been more encouraged to travel outside of borough of Haringay. After visiting Broomfield Park on the No.121 route, we decided to visit Grovelands Park near Southgate Station. Having photocopied the Southgate Area’s map, we took the No.121 bus from Wood Green and got off at Southgate station. Following the map, we found the main road The Bourne and walked down towards the park’s main entrance. It was just 10 minutes walk from Southgate Station. Grovelands Park possessed a wide variety of shrubs and trees thriving in a peaceful suburban setting and dark- and light-coloured leaves stood out in a blue sky on 25th April. The footpath led us to the Boating Lake. As the park’s website introduces, there were a wide variety of waterfowls and their signets ... read more