Previously in this London Loop series of blogs I arrived at a fingerpost in the woods on Banstead Downs at 1320 on Bank Holiday Monday26th August 2024 having completed section 6 from Coulsdon South. Now the adventure continues...
Pausing long enough to take a photo I pressed on through the woods, emerging once again onto Banstead Downs golf course because yes, it really is that big. And empty. Well not quite empty. I sat for a while on a bench looking down the fairway as something bright pink approached. This turned out to be a lady of Oriental appearance, dressed in mostly day-glo garments and having a conversation on her phone in loudspeaker mode and held at arm’s length. I have no words.
The bench on which I rested was dedicated in memory of David & Nora Bryson. Don’t know who they were but they are now my first entry on OpenBenches.org Having done that I carried on out of the golf course and down Sandy Lane for the start of a a long, hot slog along residential streets lined with expensive and mostly large detached houses. This is probably my least favourite bit of the London Loop so far. An unrelenting drag along often uneven pavements with little shelter and only uninspiring front gardens to look at. At least at the point of entering Epsom & Ewell Borough there was a stink pipe to spot. 2 points to me 😊
The road walking continued down to and along Cheam Road then Down Bramley Road which reminded me I’d need to get some apples to go with the blackberries I’d snaffled on section 6. Through an arch under the Sutton & Mole Valley branch line and finally the houses disappeared and I was in the wide open grassland called Warren Farm open space. By now I was flagging a bit and was glad to get across this to the shelter of the trees at the edge of Nonsuch Park. I found a bench under the trees and sat a while, drank some of my dwindling orange squash supply, and added Dolly and Ron Bees to OpenBenches.org as well.
Nonsuch Park was the site of Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace. On the Epsom & Ewell council website there’s a brief history, reproduced in part here:
King Henry VIII began the building Nonsuch Palace on 22 April 1538 on the Thirtieth anniversary of his accession. The King's advisors chose a site then occupied by the village of Cuddington, with its church and manor house. These were cleared away and the owners compensated.
Within two months of work beginning, the name 'Nonsuch' first appears in the building accounts. The structure was substantially completed by January 1541, but the decorations of the outside walls (which were to be the fame of Nonsuch and the explanation of Henry's purpose in its creation) were still in progress five years later. By November 1545 the work had cost £24,536. When Henry died on 28 January 1547, the palace was still unfinished. What little remained to be done was completed by Henry Fitzalan, Twelfth Earl of Arundel, after his purchase of the palace from the crown in 1556.
Elizabeth I regained Nonsuch in 1592 and it remained in Royal hands (apart from the Commonwealth) until 1670 when Charles II gave it to his erstwhile mistress, Barbara Villiers, who became Baroness Nonsuch, Duchess of Cleveland. She demolished the palace in 1682-3 and broke up the parks to sell to cover her gambling debts. The site was excavated in 1959. Only small remnants of the Palace can be seen today.
I was glad the Loop followed the path along the edge of the park, lined with chestnut trees so mostly shaded, before bearing off through the woods and passing the site of Nonsuch Palace Banquetting House, a site raised up behind a retaining wall looking like a Tudor artillery fort and intended to afford panoramic views to the surrounding countryside to the royal guests. The site is now much covered by trees, the building is long gone but the retaining wall remains as a ruin.
I went down a couple of flights of steps and crossed the Ewell Bypass road then along an alleyway to enter Ewell via Church Street between the castellated Victorian school and the church of St. Mary the Virgin.
On reaching the High Street I turned right and crossed to enter Bourne Hall Park by its impressive gateway, which had been closed the last time I was here but fortunately was now open negating the need for a detour.
At this fingerpost by the pond I sat down and ticked off Section 7.
What to do next? Silly question.
I needed that. I resisted the temptation to have another, a decision helped by the £6.35 price tag and the continuously barking dog in the pub garden, went and bought some apples, and got the train from Ewell West to Guildford and from there home. The return railway journey was a whole lot less stressful than the outward had been.
In spite of GWR’s best efforts (cancel trains, don’t put the trains on the departure boards, change the stops the trains stop at, reinstate trains but on no account tell the passengers what is happening and don’t answer the phone!) I managed to get to Coulsdon South station at about twenty to eleven in the morning on Bank Holiday Monday 26th August ready to tackle Section 6 of the London Loop.
The sun even came out, on a Bank Holiday! My walk started by passing under the railway and road bridges and then climbing through residential streets on what seemed an ever upward trek without an apparent top. On the way I passed over the Tattenham Corner Line as a Southern train passed under the bridge which was good timing.
I continued to climb, passing into the London Borough of Sutton before leaving the roadside verge down a sunken bridleway which had a half-hidden cast iron boundary marker for the former Carshalton Urban District Council part way down the hill. The bridleway climbed to a small rise near some paddocks with a comprehensive selection of “No” signs and CCTV cameras. This spot afforded some distant views of London's towers, cranes, and the Wembley Stadium arch just about visible through the haze. A few yards further on I spotted the two radio masts of Crytal Palace over the treetops and the Woodcote Smallholdings, built for soldiers returning from the Great War.
The Loop turns south west through the open space of Carshalton Road Pastures before crossing Carshalton Road and turning north to cross the famous Mayfield Lavender Fields.
The path runs through the middle of the lavender fields which the farm makes a good deal from not only growing the plants but by charging people to come and look at them. By this time of year the blooms are well past their best though. At the far side of the field I waited for a couple to cross the stile who were stopped in their tracks by a sign saying there was a £5 entry charge. Nice try, it’s a public right of way. I wonder how many they catch with that? There’s no sign at the other side of the field where I came in. Here’s a photo because they also have a sign up claiming that you need their permission to take photos too.
I crossed Carshalton Road into the rather more welcoming and much more attractive space of Oaks Park. The park was laid out in the 1770s by the Earl of Derby as the gardens of his house there. The park has been much modified since as was the house before it was demolished in the 1950s leaving only some of the outbuildings and stables. The Oaks estate lent its name to the horse race started by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1779 and run annually at the Derby meeting at nearby Epsom Racecourse. According to legend, as recounted on an information board in the park, Lord Derby and Lord Bunbury tossed a coin to decide which would get to name another race, Derby won the toss else we might have had the Epsom Bunbury, and by extension the Kentucky Bunbury races. It’s a very pleasant park with a number of separate spaces, ideal to stop and eat your picnic lunch whilst walking section 6 of the Loop. So I did.
Fortified with cheese and ham sandwiches I resumed my walk along a wiggly path through the trees out onto a track, Fairlawn Road and then left onto a narrower path called Freedown Lane which passed a new development site and led up past HM Prison Highdown, glimpsed through the trees lining the path. Lining the other side of the path were many patches of brambles so my now empty sandwich box was soon filled with blackberries instead. The crumble will be worth the pricked fingers 😀
At the end of Freetown lane I crossed Sutton Lane onto Banstead Down. The rest of Section 6 runs across the down and its huge golf course. I had expected this to be busy with it being a Bank Holiday Monday but it was almost empty. Perhaps the members of Banstead Downs Golf Club mainly play on “work” days?
Running through the middle of the course and across the Loop is the most substantial obstacle on this section, the “Mad Mile” of the A217 Brighton Road, a fast dual carriageway without a controlled pedestrian crossing of a footbridge. I had to wait for several minutes before a gap in the speeding traffic long enough to get across occurred. There appears to be no suitable alternative route to avoid taking your life in your hands else I’m sure the Loop would take it.
Once across the road there’s just one more fairway to cross - also deserted at the time - before reaching the end of Section 6 in the woods at a fingerpost that marks the start of Section 7 and it also points the way to Banstead Station for those calling it a day here.
It was 1320 and I wasn’t stopping yet, planning to complete Section 7 to Ewell from where I had a ticket to get the train home. I pressed on to further “adventures”.
Inspired by Mr. Hewes YouTube channel I decided at rather short notice to have a weekend in Leicestershire and watch people chucking tanks and other military vehicles around an old airfield at Operation Market Harborough. Managed to book a handy cottage for the weekend not far away in the village of Medbourne just a short drive from the show site too.
I had another day out riding buses on Route 23A on a normally closed military road on Salisbury Plain to the "lost" village of Imber and to some other
villages around the edges of the military training ranges.
Imber isn't really lost, it was just taken over by the army during the second small disagreement of 1939-1945 and never returned to the former residents.
Which means it's off-limits to the public save for a few days a year when access is granted to visit St. Giles Church in the village and the August date has
now become a regular event, Imberbus, where many heritage buses from London and elsewhere (and some modern ones too) provide a service from Warminster to Imber and onward
to several destinations beyond. It's a fun day out which in recent years has become incredibly well attended, fares are £10 adult and £2 child and it's an
"all day rover" ticket with the proceeds
going to charity. In 2023 that was £38,000 and judging by the crowds again this year should at least reach something similar.
There was a very long queue outside Warminster Station when I arrived at about 1130 so having obtained my ticket I joined the back of it and waited for a bus
to turn up. The first one up was a modern single decker from the local Beeline operator, lots of people in the queue shunned this preferring to wait for a Routemaster
so those of us who weren't so fussy hopped on for a comfortable and not crowded ride to Imber.
At Imber I decided against joining the long queue to the church - I've seen it before - and caught another modern bus, the LT Museum branded electric double decker bound
for the village of Tilshead via the interchange at Gore Cross. The top deck was full but I got the last seat downstairs and when a lot of people got off at Gore Cross quite a few
of us dashed upstairs to claim the vacant seats for the rest of the way to Tilshead. I'd never got off at Tilshead before and now I know why. Despite the crowds of thirsty visitors the
pub, The Rose & Crown, (with the rather unusual inn sign)) was shut. On a Saturday lunchtime? A Bath City double decker appeared going to Chitterne appeared so I got on it.
Chitterne is a good place to watch the buses and have lunch. The village hall does a roaring trade in refreshments and there was room on the green outside to eat my picnic lunch.
Three buses in and I'd yet to ride on anything that was old enough to buy beer so when an open topped Bristol FS turned up I bagged a seat on that to take me to Gore Cross.
But downstairs because I've made the mistake of the open top deck out of Chitterne before. Those trees are low and they hurt!
Gore Cross is the interchange point for all the routes east of Imber, connecting to Chitterne, Tilshead, The Lavingtons (Market & West), the amusingly named Brazen Bottom,
and New Zealand Farm Camp. The first three being villages and the last two being fairly remote points on the Salisbury Plain ranges. Gore Cross interchange itself is a gravelly
square on an exposed hillside and being a really good spot for photos and filming is busy with both passengers swapping routes and Men Who Like Buses™ There's a corner of
Gore Cross which is a happy haven for neurodiversity and all the better for it.
I got my cheap action camera out here and the result is this 10 minute video.
Comparing 2024 and 2023 crowds with my video from 2022 (see Youtube playlist) where Gore Cross is at times almost empty brings home just how popular Imberbus has become in a short time.
My next ride was on an open top Routemaster but the top deck was full so I grabbed one of the inward facing benches over the rear wheels where knee room is less of an issue
and took a ride out through Brazen Bottom and Market Lavington and back to Gore Cross. After spending a bit more time videoing the comings and goings I calculated that i
had enough time to repeat that loop, this time on the top deck of Routemaster Coach RMC1485 (roomier and more comfortable than a standard Routemaster) and then remain on board back through Imber to Warminster to get my train home.
This proved to be a wise move since the queue for buses back to Warminster from Gore Cross was now alarmingly long. On the return through Gore Cross towards Warminster
we managed to squeeze on a few more passengers with the last seat, next to mine, being taken by Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on his way back to Imber village. Only fair really given that he's the
driving force behind organizing Imberbus. So the few of us at the back of the top deck got a bit of an insight into the running of the event and the history of Imber.
And I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that "I'm never doing this again" was said only in jest ☺
The journey home was "interesting", I got the last train north from Warminster before the usual GWR Saturday cancellations started, and my connecting service at Bath Spa came complete with half a dozen BTP officers and a couple of hundred drunk/coked-up Milwall FC fans. So that wasn't a tense journey at all. Better than last year though when loads of trains got cancelled and the only way out of Warminster was, it turned out, on a bus!
I seem to have taken relatively few photos this year but there are 20 in this Flickr Album
I went on another Hidden London tour, Holborn - The Secret Platforms, run by the London Transport Museum. This was I’m pretty sure the second day of running tours at Holborn tube station but the guides were already well into the swing of things and as usual it was all well organised and very interesting. Our group was met outside and after safety briefing, ticket and ID checks led through the ticket barriers and through a door into a swelteringly hot small space for the initial introduction by our enthusiastic lead guide Becky. this lasted only a few minutes but it was still a relief to move on to the slightly cooler spiral staircase and go down the 193 steps (I didn’t count them but I reckon that’s about the equivalent of a 15 storey building 😉 ) with walls still covered in original tiles in a white, brown, and blue combination unique to Holborn.
After briefly emerging onto the eastbound Piccadilly Line platform we passed through another private door onto the disused platforms that formerly served the branch line to Aldwych. The first of which, that used to be the terminating platform, is now a row of disused offices and other spaces e.g. toilets. One of the rooms bore a sign for the “Central Line Model Railway Club”, sadly no longer used.
At the far end of the platform we were able to get to down the the tunnel towards Aldwych, with the tunnel lights switched on else we’d have just been looking into a black hole. We had a shuffle round to take photos and a quick plug for the Hidden London Aldwych tour (I’ve already done that one back in 2018) before returning to the office/platform area.
Before the station got too busy the disused platforms at Holborn were often used for filming. These days Aldwych or Charing Cross disused platforms tend to be used as they’re easier for film crews to access. We got a little film show here to remind us of some of the music videos filmed at Holborn and just how awful Superman 4 was, particularly the low-budget special effects!
Another short walk via tunnels and stairs took us past more original coloured tiles and a large fragment of early Piccadilly Line map to the other disused platform. This is the through platform, still connected to the tunnel in the photo above and to the live Piccadilly line to the north of the station so if you look down the tunnel in that direction and are patient you can get a view of the eastbound trains leaving the adjacent open platform. This platform has been used by TfL to test new platform decor so has some rather confusing signage.
The tour ended here with the customary round of applause for our four guides. It didn’t seem like about 90 minutes had passed which is the sign of a good tour and I even got used to the “Holl-born” pronunciation being used throughout, it’s always been “Ho-b’n” to me 😀. We returned to the ticket hall, thankfully not via the 193 stairs but taking time to appreciate the very long escalators instead.
I’ve only given a brief outline of the tour here, there’s a lot more to discover by actually going there and yes, it’s not a cheap day out but it is worth it so if you fancy doing it yourself bookings are being taken for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday between now and November 10th with more dates to come in March 2025.
