This England: A Hampstead Walk and a Play

It's lovely to start out the morning with good friends and that's exactly what Rick and I did after moving over to spend the last few days of our London visit with blogger Jenny and her her husband T. After kicking off the morning, we decided to split ways again. Rick and T would go for a bike ride. Jenny and I would take a long walk through Hampstead.

Hampstead is a beautiful area/neighborhood about fifteen minutes north of the center of London on the tube. We took off to see old houses and landmarks, passing by, among others, that of Sigmund Freud, continuing through narrow streets.

Our first stop was Hampstead's parish church, St. John at Hampstead. The earliest records of a church on site come from 1312. A new church was built in 1747 and a little over 100 years later, was enlarged. Changes and upgrades continued well into the 1950s. 

The church is beautifully decorated with pillars framing the side aisles and a gracefully arched and decorated ceiling. (The photo above is looking toward the altar; the one below is looking from altar to the back of the church and shows more with better lighting.)

The ceiling had beautiful vaulting and was elaborately gilded -- but not overdone. It felt very comfortable.

I always enjoy stained glass and there was some lovely glass in this building. I especially liked this window.

But if I had to pick a favorite part of the church grounds, it would be the cemetery. Being rough and overgrown in parts added to its ambience and we tromped through. 

In retrospect, I wish we'd spent more time looking at the graves. Jenny told me the Peter Llewellyn Davies, the young boy who inspired James Barrie's "Peter Pan," was buried there, along with other family members. What I didn't know till refreshing my memory for this post was that Peter's uncle, Gerald du Maurier, an actor/manager whose daughter, Daphne, wrote the book "Rebecca," played the original Captain Hook on stage. How lovely that he and Peter are buried side by side.

But I realized I would have recognized more than a few names, like the actor Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the artist John Constable, writers Eleanor Farjeon, George duMaurier (author and creator of the character Svengali in "Trilby"), comedian Peter Cook, actress Kay Kendall, and Mary Knox, who illustrated the original "Mary Poppins" stories. Also buried there are several couples who were recognized as the Pearly Kings and Queens of Hampstead. (Next time!)

There was some lovely statuary and I thought this one was particularly striking.

Clearly, there are those who visit -- and remember.

 We left the cemetery and continued our walk, passing by the du Maurier home and that of "Kidnapped" writer Robert Louis Stevenson.

And, we stopped by "Forsyte Saga" author John Galsworthy's home. It is actually a wing attached to Grove House, which is better known as the Admiral's House. 

It was this home that is said to have inspired the character that lived next door to the Banks family in Mary Poppins, who, if you remember, would regularly blow off his rooftop cannon!  (The house served as a subject for several Constable paintings.) There is a certain irony in that no admiral has ever lived in the house, despite its design that even includes port holes. Can't you imagine the cannon being fired off that roof?

 

I can't emphasize enough how pretty the streets were, flanked by tall brick homes, many of which had colorful doors and lovely iron gates. 

We ended up in downtown Hampstead, which had plenty of charming shops. 

 

 

I could have easily bought this platter, had I room to cart it home. But I refrained and we opted for a cup of tea instead!

 

 

Then it was back home. That evening we were at the theatre again -- this time to see "Juno and the Paycock" with actor Mark Rylance (who recently did a turn as Thomas Cromwell in "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light" on PBS). 

 

No photos of the production, but the theatre -- the Gielgud -- is a beauty, both inside and out.

 

 

I was glad Jenny sent this pic after we got home -- my interiors didn't turn out too well! 

It was fun to see Rylance in the lead -- and then a few months later watch him in "Wolf Hall." The characters were totally different!

 

 Alas for Rick, a lot of people died in this play, too. But it was a wonderful way to end a terrific day.

 

Travel Tips:

 

• Find a neighborhood, any neighborhood, and explore if you have the time in your schedule. I was lucky because Jenny was a good guide, but plenty of books will offer some suggestions. You might encounter interesting shops or intriguing cemeteries.
• Your phone is your friend. Well, not mine, because my carrier wasn't covered out of the US and I had neglected to add a service that could, so once I was out of wi-fi, no luck. But if your phone works you can easily do your own self-guided tours, using maps and wikipedia. In some sites, which may have free wifi, you may even find audio tours (Rick Steves has some great ones at ricksteves.com).  

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