|
||||
|
|
|
£18.95 per person based on minimum 35 people |
|
Short & easy walking |
|
Availability: Weekdays throughout the year |
Hampstead & London's Lost Rivers
|
Select and opulent, the old village of Hampstead sits high above the rest of London. On the famous Heath rises one of London’s Lost Rivers – the Fleet. Enjoy a short walking tour of old Hampstead, morning coffee and a roast lunch in as near to a country pub as London gets and in the afternoon a Lost Rivers coach tour following the course of the Fleet to the Thames. |
|
London has over a dozen rivers flowing through it, each of which has shaped the geography and people. |
Please meet the guide in Hampstead at 10-30am for morning coffee included in the tour fee (or come at noon to start with an early lunch). Blood sugars topped up we are off for a gentle stroll through the compact lanes and streets of old Hampstead. This was London’s Montmartre – artists and writers drawn here by the clean air and the cheap rents! Cheap no longer! There are more millionaires in Hampstead than anywhere in the capital and they live in beautiful Georgian and Victorian dwellings clustered around Hampstead old church. Eternal residents include a galaxy of notable folk - and their mothers! From John Constable to the du Mauriers, Kay Kendal and Anton Walbrook to Joan Collins’ mum.
Back to the pub for a roast lunch or vegetarian meal included in the tour fee. Individuals can choose and pay for any desserts, bar drinks or coffees as required.
The waters of the Fleet that rise on Hampstead Heath (along with those of the Westbourne and the Tyburn) were fresh, clear and sparkling. Until London grew. The Fleet started as a river, declined to a brook, dwindled to a ditch and was finally demoted to a drain and incorporated into Joseph Bazalgette’s great Victorian sewers after London’s Great Stink of 1858. This afternoon, by coach, we follow the course of the River Fleet to where, at low tide, we can still see it empty into the Thames beneath Blackfriars Bridge. Along the way we encounter the very story of London itself stopping off at a little bit of the countryside tucked away behind St. Pancras Station where a church, first built on the banks of The Fleet in the 4th century, still stands at the heart of another of London’s old tapestry of villages.
And on to Blackfriars where we stop to buy tea before heading home at 4-45pm.
Available weekdays throughout the year. The short and easy walking tour makes it suitable for most folk.
Adults & Seniors: £18.95
Coach Mileage: 15
| Please click here to find out what happens if you have fewer than 35 people in your group |