SPRING WALK - ANCIENT BLUEBELL WOOD, OSTERLEY HOUSE ESTATE & GRAND UNION CANAL

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(Long Wood Nature Reserve - My Photo taken 24 April, 2016)...

If Spring is on target (!) it's BLUEBELL time again, so do join me in an approx. 5/6 mile fairly unchallenging walk through pretty countryside with chances to enjoy this Spring phenomenon. We'll walk through one of London's last great Georgian country estates and parkland (16th century OSTERLEY HOUSE PARK) , where we'll break for our lunch refreshments in the fascinating largely Elizabethan stables now a café.

After time for lunch, we'll continue our walk through the little known LONG WOOD NATURE RESERVE , a wonderful small remnant of ancient woodland, something now quite rare in England and defined as any wood thought to have existed since before 1600. These are among the oldest, purest habitat forms , rare survivors from the prehistoric and medieval eras.

The native species of Bluebells can be identified by its delicate scent, intense blue colour and flowers that droop down like a bell along one side of the stem.

Our walk continues to learn more of the history of the GRAND UNION CANAL and ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL'S last great unique masterpiece, THE THREE BRIDGES, before enjoying welcome refreshments at an historic hostelry and our return to Osterley.

OSTERLEY HOUSE PARK, once described by Horace Walpole as 'the palace of palaces', was built around 1575 by Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange, but was extensively remodelled by Robert Adam after being commissioned by the-then owner Francis Child, the founder of Child’s Bank. The house contains one of the most complete examples of Adam’s work. The stables are largely Elizabethan and are now a tearoom. .

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Suggested Itinerary (depending of course on photo stops, chat pauses, scenery admiring sauntering etc.)

12.15 - 1.00 pm Lunch refreshments in the Osterley House Elizabethan Stables Café

1.00 pm continue walk through Spring countryside and Bluebells in Long Wood Reserve on to:

The Grand Union Canal, opened in 1794 to provide a shorter and quicker route between London and Birmingham. We'll pass Hanwell Flight of 6 locks, created in 1794,which raises the canal by more than 16 metres and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, as well as Three Bridges – the last endeavour of the brilliant engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which enabled the railway to pass beneath the canal and the road, Windmill Lane. Completed in 1859, the railway runs along the bottom, the canal rests in a cast iron trough above while a cast iron bridge carries the road across the top. The canal was important for bringing building materials into the rapidly expanding city of London, especially bricks and tiles from the-then county of Middlesex. Hay for London’s horses was another major cargo

3/3.30pm Refreshment stop at an historic hostelry ... The Plough at Norwood Green

17.00 ish - depending on how jolly we feel in the pub! - We finish our walk back at Osterley Underground Station.

Leader: Jacquelyn (mob: 0785 793 1296 - not a Smart Phone)