A visit to Kensington Gardens

Today we decided to continue the theme of the last couple of posts with more fun in the sun, but first, what better way to start the day than going to Harris and Hoole for brunch - they do porridge with your choice of toppings so of course I went for chocolate drops.

We then hopped on the train and headed into London, getting off at Marylebone. The bike stand at the station is packed full of all sorts of bikes.

We took a meandering route through the streets as it's the best way to come across unusual and beautiful sights. I love trying to find out the history of the old buildings we see. Some lovely ones we came across were labelled 'the Oxford Cambridge Mansions' - I can't find out much but they were built in 1885 and when I was doing a search on them I found a one bedroom flat for sale for the very 'low' price of £850,000!!

Here's a few more interesting buildings we passed on the way to the gardens.

This pub looked really inviting but we didn't stop - loved the sign, and loved the use of an old barbecue as a planter.

Next shot is just for the Taswegians reading this.

We made it to Kensington Gardens and for probably the first time ever I was glad that Ken isn't very quick with his phone camera - we were taking a shortcut by climbing through a  fence when I lost my balance and was sort of hanging in a very unladylike position. Did my beloved help me, no as he was laughing nearly as much as me - we did get quite a few looks.

The gardens are really glorious at present and there were lots of people out and about.
They cover 242 acres and there were lots of picnics and games going on throughout.

One of the attractions in the gardens is a statue of Peter Pan. The statue was a gift from Sir James Barrie (author of Peter Pan) and was placed in the park in 1912.

There are quite a few statues/sculptures in and around the park - here's a small selection.

Bears hugging - cute

Heads without brains - profound

Well dressed man - gorgeous

Pan chasing people and a dog - odd

The Serpentine Gallery sits within the Gardens and there is an exhibition on which these rocks are part of - if I remember correctly they're meant to represent stability and instability, balance and imbalance, and a lot more phrases which just sounded like a bunch of hokem (to quote the Big Bang Theory). They just look like a couple of rocks to me.

Running through the park is an area for riding horses - yes, I was as surprised as you when I first found out that people have horses in London.

There are lots of beautiful birds (feathered) including a coot on it's very fine nest and a very fancy mandarins duck.

The flower borders next to the roads are really lovely and I had to take a picture of this one as it's so purple.

I hope you've enjoyed our visit to Kensington Gardens - it's not the end of our day but I'm breaking it up as we did quite a lot (don't worry, there is a spectacular latte break in part two - it involves dry ice!).

Until then, be good and enjoy life.

Pamela and Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S: Final shot - funky lamppost we came across.