So I fell in love with Hamstead yesterday. I fear it may be an unrequited love, a fairy tale love in which I pine from afar but where we can never be united. It is the princess and I just an explorer, a passer-by in it's fair realm. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I want to share why my emotions are all in a tangle over this little area of London.
I came for Hamstead Heath, the area of woodland and grass that people had urged me to visit, calling it the best bit of nature in London. The trees were definitely amazing, it was quiet and secluded. Wandering through the trees you were out of sight of buildings and concrete. But then as we left the woods, we spotted this scene, which at first look was a cross between a level in Prince of Persia (so many things to climb and swing on) and a scene from a children's fairy story.
The pagoda is public property, attached to a mansion just behind it, but every angle and section of it is pure beauty. All day until that point I'd been unhappy, the sun was giving me a headache, and a bad day at work on Friday was lingering in my mood. I kept thinking about the things at work that were causing me stress, all that I have to do, all the things going wrong. This was the first time in 24 hours that I'd just been able to relax and be really happy.
This is me doing a happy dance at how lovely it looks.
We were incredibly lucky to be there just as the sun was setting, so obviously this was the spot for outfit photos for the day.
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| Can't you just see a game level where you have to swing from one bar to another? |
Although the plants inside the Pagoda area were gorgeous and well tended there was a border of wild flowers between it and the forest below.
So, obviously on getting home we immediately looked up house prices in the area and then choke-laughed at the discovery that this is actually where millionaires live. On the other hand, we can always aspire, and save and hunt down the cheaper houses a little further away. But for now I intend to make amorous visits, explore the woods and be happy at it's existence.
Have you ever been here? Anyone have any recommendations of other places in London like this I should visit?
