There's a Red House over yonder

And no, it's not where Jimi Hendrix stayed, but William Morris' home for five years.

The Red House

Continuing the William Morris journey which I started last year with a visit to William Morris house in Walthamstow, East London, and continued at Kelmscott Manor, Oxon, I visited the Red House in the London/ Kent suburbs today.

I'd been looking for a National Trust place to visit, and the one nearest to Walthamstow was closed today. The underground train/tube lines are closed in various sections, but this venue seemed reachable. How glad I am I went!

I had a little niggle in the back of my mind about going back to Bexleyheath, because I haven't been back there for 30 years, since I left my then-boyfriend, who lived nearby. I thought it might trigger old memories. In the event, it did not, as I was in a part of Bexleyheath I'd never been to before, and the weather was stunning, as it never had been in the 1980s! The former boyfriend, I knew, had long since emigrated to Australia and married, and we were on speaking terms when he left.

As mentioned before, the skies were blue and the blossoms lilac. Breezes were warm and scented, and in the gardens of the Red House the only sound was that of birdsong. London seemed more than mere miles away. I had time to spare in the gardens and outdoor cafe, as the house wasn't admitting visitors before 1.30pm, unless pre-booked. Like various other Victorian gardens, it's divided into 'rooms' or areas, by the use of carefully-planted hedges, giving a false impression of spaciousness. It's still a larger-than average house and garden in a suburban road, but
once inside the garden, you'd never know. It's a bit more like one man's version of fairyland, or, as Burne-Jones said, "the beautifullest place on earth".

You'll just have to go there one day! And I'll have to post more of my pics on my blipfolio or flickr. I have a feeling I've said that before.

Afterwards, I went to a large local park with a former stately home and a boating lake (Danson park) then because it had taken me two hours to get there by bus and tube and tube and overground train, I decided to try to get back by bus and tube and bus. This route turned out to be ten minutes faster, and provides useful research in case my friend Ann decides to go there. Plus, I got to see North Greenwich, the Millennium Dome concert venue now known as the O2, and the colourful concrete housing estate currently under construction, called the Millennium village. What will it look like by 2034? I wondered. Probably won't last as long as the Red House.