Knighton Wood and the Edge of Epping Forest

[kniteracy]

As part of the effort to get me out of the house more often, we have decided that every single weekend, we're going to take a trip to somewhere, even if it's just a walk to Deptford.


Upcoming potential excursions are actually a walk to Deptford, and possibly a visit to Nunhead Cemetery for the close trips, and proposed trips to Colchester, Dover, and St. Albans for places slightly farther away. While we were certainly see many interesting things along the way (you can't turn a corner her without seeing something interesting), the goals are for us to do more together outside of the house and for me to be able by the time the weather gets cold to walk more than a mile without feeling completely exhausted. We made a good start on that yesterday, although I was completely exhausted when we were done. We'll go back and walk more of Epping Forest another time, maybe even next weekend, and I'll have more photographs of the most protected forest in England.

Here's a summary of our afternoon in Knighton Wood! We have been meaning to do this for some time, and yesterday we just got ourselves together to do it. We didn't leave the house until almost 2pm, spent from about 3-5 rambling around in the woods, and then enjoyed some pizza in Chingford with occams_pyramid, who was then kind enough to drive us to the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge, just up the road from where we had dinner, and walk us around the grounds a bit. I didn't photograph the impressive-looking Royal Forest Hotel, because it's not all that old. It is pretty though: I'll try to get a photo of it another time. According to the Guardian, it might be best to give the pub itself a miss, though. ;-)

Working backwards (we did a lot of that yesterday!), here are the photos of the hunting lodge, followed by a comic book page of our day in Knighton Wood. It was fun.

	Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge from the Back
	Side Door at Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge
	Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge These windows overlook the edge of Epping Forest and would have been a great location from which to watch a hunt.

Comments

[eoforyth.livejournal.com]

Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge! Boy, now I'm going to be sinking deeper into the nostalgia trip I've been taking lately (and will post on my lj shortly).

Memories of sooooo many school trips to the Forest :)

I can't see if the pargetting was still there. I remember when they restored the outside, taking out the Victorian 'decorative' additions and putting in decoration that was more in keeping.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

The lodge itself was closed, but we'll visit another time. The pargeting was either not there or not noticeable. Of course I wasn't really looking for it, so I'll clearly have to go back.

[occams_pyramid]

Here http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=541236&Y=197188&A=Y&Z=1 is the Robin Hood pub, which is near the heart of the forest so may be a good place to start from - it should be on bus routes. It's also near the Iron Age fort at Loughton Camp, which among other things is thought to be the location of Dick Turpin's hideout.

See also the official City of London Epping Forest site at http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/living_environment/open_spaces/epping_forest.htm

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I think that's a great idea! Why dont you and highstone see what kind of time you have and meet us there some weekend in the not too distant future? If there's a central location where one can sit and get a pint (and ostensibly one can type on one's PDA), then that provides a good place for me to be if I can't handle all the rambling others want to do-- as long as I get my mile or two in before I get tired!

[occams_pyramid]

One problem - I'm not sure if I can park round there other than in the pub car park - and I imagine they keep an eye on that or would be flooded with people visiting the forest rather than customers

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

So have a pint, maybe even lunch. Then you're customers.

[quadrivium.livejournal.com]

Your own wood! How cool as that? I love the comic bookish captions! *grins*

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Of course we could never afford to live there. Here's an estate agent's page on a house for sale across from the wood itself. (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-8407188.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy)

I started doing the comic book thing when we were in the US, and I really enjoy it for short, contained trips like this. I'll probably be doing more of these as we continue to be tourists in our hometown this summer.

[quadrivium.livejournal.com]

Oh, my! That *is* expensive (especially when I essentially have to double it)! A quick glance over all the amenities though indicates it's quite spacious.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

(nods) Big house, nice area, close to London, that price is about what I'd expect. Something that size near me would be about half that.

[wulfrich.livejournal.com]

1.1 million pounds for a house that dares call a 5'x5' space a study?

I will never come to terms with the cost of urban housing. How can -anyone- afford to live in these places? There are some $500,000 homes in this market, but for that money you get almost 4000 square feet of space on two acres, with a three-car garage and a pond. The median price in this township (one of the most expensive in the area housing market) is $245,000. But we live in the 'slums'--one street over from us there's a property listed for $179,000. Three bedroom, two bath, 2-car garage, 2400 square feet, nice yard with big trees--a very well-kept ordinary American ranch home in a 1960s subdivision. You only need about 150% of the median household income for the county to afford to live there.

So who the hell buys the half-million dollar homes here, or the million-pound homes there?

-Wulf

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

that's a beautiful wood indeed.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Next time I'll plan things better so we can all get together at the Robin Hood, hey? :)

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

I'll be there :)

[silme.livejournal.com]

Now I'm wondering if the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge could be hired by the SCA... :)

The thing is, you're totally right. In most parts of England, you can't go a few yards without seeing something interesting -- a building, a tree, etc.

Knighton Lane is cool! :)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I doubt they hire it out. It looked like it had a museum-y look to it. But I'll bet the Royal Forest Hotel would be hirable. It looks all half-timbered on the outside, but the inside, according to reports, is a bit skeery. ;)

[silme.livejournal.com]

I fear a hotel would be rather expensive to hire for a weekend, alas. SCA people are used to cheap fees; some folks complain about £26 for an entire weekend, including all meals from Friday night through Sunday morning. I don't know if the hotel would let us cook the food either, or if we'd be stuck with their version of a medieval feast. ;)

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember searching that area for places for the Far Isles to hire, a few years back, and finding only a youth hostel. But you never know. Here's the Hunting Lodge web site:
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/leisure_heritage/architectural_heritage/Buildingsoutsidethecity/hunting_lodge.htm
Give them a call - it can't hurt.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned how jealous I am?

Just saying. :-P

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I'm jealous of you too, you know. Isn't it great we both grew into such great lives?

Come visit; we miss you.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

heh! Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! :-)

Yeh, it would be sooo sweet if we were all closer.

And yeh, from where we started -- OY! -- we finally got lucky. Fingers crossed!

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

Completely off topic, how are you doing on Peanut Bake?

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I'm actually out of peanut sauce completely and only have one packet of peanut bake left.