city walk #18: Hampstead

Ant and I headed into North of the river today to walk on Hampstead Heath. It's a huge open space, mostly left naturally. We rambled around and up Parliament Hill to see a great view of the city. Surprisingly, although London is full of people and buildings, it's also quite green as well.


At the north end of the heath is this large building, Kenwood House, with massive grounds and ponds surrounding it.


We had worked up quite an appetite by then (due in part to a few wrong turnings in the wilds of the park), so we exited at the north gate and headed to a pub recommended by the city walks card, The Spaniard's Inn. There in the dark, atmospheric dining area, Ant and I had a truly delicious meal. He had wild boar sausages with creamy mash and gravy. I had a sweet potato and goat's cheese lasagne. Afterwards I worked up the courage to ask about the chef's recipe; I will try it out on our next unsuspecting dinner guests.

We wandered up and down Hampstead High Street, in and out of little shops. We finished off our little trip in Louis, a Hungarian confectionery and tea shop. We managed to squeeze in and were amazed at how many others were evidently enjoying their Monday afternoon cuppa. There were some exceedingly posh accents heard near us. One came from an elderly man who exclaimed how apt Ant's t-shirt was: "Make tea not war".


It started to rain as we left the tea shop, so we headed back underground and home to our sauna-like flat. (The plumbers came round this morning to put some chemicals in the radiators to clean out the system and, as a result, the heating has to be on all week.) We are now tired, happy and full, roasting in the lounge.