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| Steel Birds - poem on viewing platform, Kings Cross |
Despite the weather forecast for yesterday my friend and I were planning to enjoy the day come what may. As it happened the rain didn't set in until mid afternoon by which time we had done everything really. We took advantage while the weather was dry to look at some outside spaces before going to the exhibition we had planned to see.
Kings Cross is a massive building site as Crossrail it still forging ahead. Not only that but all around are cranes and holes and men in hard hats, diggers and heaps of soil as new offices and other complexes are rising out of the ground. We found two viewing platforms where you can look over the area. They provide the viewer with information about the buildings and there is a lovely poem at one.
We headed towards the Regent's Canal where we found Word on the Water, a secondhand bookshop (just leave me there!). We spent time looking at the books inside the barge and out, saying hello to the resident dog and sitting on the seats provided. We (or maybe I should say I) dragged ourselves away, walked a little was along the canal as far as St Pancras Lock (where I had been not that long ago).
We then looked for somewhere to eat and found a lovely tea shop inside Central Martins School of Art before heading out to the other side of the canal to visit
Camley Street Natural Park, a space you may not know about. For kids there is pond dipping, little trails for them to follow (mini beasts etc), areas to sit and inside the huts you can help yourself to tea.
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| Camley Street Natural Park |
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| Regent's Canal from Camley Street Natural Park |
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| The pond - Camley Street Natural Park |
From there we walked back and to
The House of Illustration for the Ladybird by Design exhibition. This was so nostalgic having grown up with Ladybird Books and bought them for my kids. On display were original prints of the book covers as well as some of the pages from the many books. Gosh what a different world we lived in. They portray perfect family life, smiling kids, loving parents - mum doing the shopping and the cooking, kids playing and making things and dad washing the car! What has changed is that mum now does most of the shopping in the supermarket all in one go for the week, the kids now play on games consuls or watch TV, but dad? He still washes the car!
It was a brilliant exhibition, certainly a feel-good experience. There is a short film about the books, how they came about, the artists and how the reading schemes started (Jane and Peter, remember them?).
By them time we came out of the exhibition the rain was drizzling a little. Not to be put off we decided on one more exploring expedition and ended up at
the Skip Garden, where everything there is made from what others throw away. What a wonderful place. There is a cafe serving hot food and cakes. Because by then it was raining quite a lot we had trouble finding somewhere to sit under cover. Eventually we found somewhere but the angle of the rain meant we weren't totally in the dry. After our tea and cake we decided to leave. A mist was forming from all the rain and both of us had damp bums from the bench at the gardens. Opposite the Skip Garden is another place where there is a natural pool and other gardens. We chatted to a family who had used the pool. They come quite often and love it. Not quite my thing - while I like being near water, I don't particularly enjoy being in it!
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| From a viewing platform - the natural swimming pool! |
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| The Skip Garden |
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| The house made of window frames (Skip Garden) |
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| The chicken coop |
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| Outside the Skip Garden |
London has some wonderful hidden spaces and it changes all the time. In a few years King Cross will be totally transformed. There are other places nearby to see so I think there will be return trip at some point. Another great day out in London.
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