Tuesday April 26th Richmond and Ham House

 After yesterday’s trip into London, we decided to stay out in the Surrey area today. I wanted to return to Richmond, where I had my “English adventure” from 1978-1980. Richard isn’t fond of the Underground, he prefers to be in a bus where he can see the area. We discovered there was a bus line, the 493, that stopped in Wimbledon Village and went on to Richmond. Took a little over an hour because of traffic and multiple stops but the day was sunny and Richard certainly got a feel for what semi-rural English villages are like! We arrived in Richmond at 10:30 and of course stopped at M & S (toilets) before we started our long walk to Ham House, which is on the river, across from Twickenham, where I used to live. 

I should explain that Richmond and Twickenham are side by side, just across the river from each other. So, I started off renting (for 15-00 GBP per week) a bed sitting room with shared kitchen and bath in a large old house on Richmond Hill when I first arrived in May 1978, then a few months later I shared a flat owned by a woman who ran her own (very upper crust) catering service in Twickenham and then, just before I had Laurie, I rented a small flat in a converted house in Teddington High Street in August of 1979 until I decided to go back to Canada in November of 1980. A lot of moving but that’s what everyone my age in London was doing and, well, my circumstances did become a little exceptional as a single parent. A decision I’ve never regretted.

Anyway, back to the present. Richmond is still Richmond, not quite as “refined” as it was back in 1978 but still very expensive in terms of cost of living. And it’s still lovely. After the pit stop at M & S, I wanted to see Richmond Green and my two favorite pubs back in the day:

Then we walked up Hill Rise Road to look at the view over the Thames. The trees are now denser and so the view isn’t quite as expansive as I remember but it’s still beautiful:

After the view from The Terrace on Richmond Hill, we walked down and continued on our way to Ham House. I had a poignant moment when I looked across the river and saw a bit of the apartments I had shared with Diana in Twickenham:

A lot of memories, including my Dad and stepmom’s visit to England in the Autumn of 1978, how we had sat on the lawns there and chatted about how happy I was in England. I never really lost that happiness although some challenging times lay ahead in 1979.

Ham House was only .5 mile ahead and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the gardens. Richard made several sketches, I took photographs of flowers and the house. We had enormous baked potatoes with tuna filing for lunch. The house was a bit gloomy. Built in the mid 1600s with very dark wood paneling and dark wallpaper, it wasn’t one of our top stately homes. But just being out in the sunshine and amongst the flowers, so what if the stately home isn’t one you would ooh and aah over.

Another day of walking—another 8 miles. Tomorrow I think will be an art gallery day.