23 December 2009

MH

youve all heard me bang on about morden hall. well i thought that i would post some pictures. its one of my favourite places in south london, ive been going on and off since 2002. located 4 miles from the thames, about 1 mile from wimbledon. its a quiet piece of london within london. the river wandle flows through, so sitting and eating lunch next to the river is a peaceful joy. national trust owns the site. in the 1950s film stars used to retreat there, being close to london, meant they could enjoy both the glitz of london yet the peace of a country park. i took a few snaps so bare with me. they turned the stables above and below into small craft workshops, they include a pottery, french polishers, craft shop, and a gallery.
i love the colours theyve painted the doors.

bit of a wonky picture. this building holds a craft workshop twice a month, also holds small exhibitions of local talent



part of the grounds to the big house used to run a snuff mill, the wheel above was part of water mill.



a small second hand bookshop. love the smell inside, typical second hand book shop smell.



the snuff mill.

the bridge connecting the gardens to the main house, ( which unfortunately i forgot to take a picture of, stupid me. now a restaurant.



small boat house, which in the summer opens as a place to buy teas and sells ices.
so now you know where i go when i write about mh. its a pretty part of london. a real earthy smell hits you when you walk round, which makes a difference from fumes!




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Alice,

I can understand why you keep returning there. It looks lovely and very peaceful, a bit like a place time forget. You can still imagine those stars of the 50s mulling about there. It is great to find a peaceful place within a busy town or city. It seems very unreal.

Great photos again. I do also love the smell of old bookshops rather than the kind of pristine smell of the high street bookstores. I'll bet there are a few beauties to be found in there. That is the sort of thing that would provide enough distraction to take my mind off the troublesome thoughts.

All the best

Nechtan

coffeecup said...

It looks like a really interesting place, would love to browse the curiosities in those craft shops. Great pictures! Doesn't matter that you forgot the house. In years gone by those barns and outbuildings were probably a hub of activity and life. Much more intruiging than stuffy gentrified rooms I think. xxx

PS. I see you have no snow. It's a white out here.

em said...

hi nechtan

isnt that one of the best smells, musty shops. i used to love trawling round london and finding the best ones.

it really is a wonderful place to go, even in the summer it isnt that crowded, because there isnt any swing park for the kids. although there is a nature section where the national trust has carved wood out into a ship and seats for the kids to use there imagination with. like you say its a peaceful place to go. xxxx


hi cc

its a lovely place to go. especially peaceful with the river flowing through.

we have snow, although its nearly going now, i kind of cheated the pictures were taken at the beginning of last week! xxx

Achelois said...

i think you secretly crave to live in the country alice.

Hope you have a Happy Christmas with very best wishes xoxoxo

em said...

hi achelois

i think you are right, i would love to live in the country. a small village would be perfect.

you never know what the future might hold. merry christmas to you too, and a happy new year. xxx