I have just been to South to attend a family reunion in Great Missenden. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab my camera for the event, so no pictures of it. Great Missenden itself left me oddly in two minds: a charmingly picturesque and oh-so-beautiful little piece of England which simultaneously stank, sewer-like, of money.
Since I don't travel south that often, I was lucky to be able to combine the trip with a seeing my daughter and also meeting with one of the authors I have been translating, for which purpose I stayed at my club in Belgravia (which makes something of a joke given my moan in the previous paragraph about the stench of money).
This gave me one day out with camera when I visited a camera shop just off Oxford Street to look at a possible new device and then walked back from there through Mayfair and Hyde Park to Knightsbridge.
London in spring can be truly beautiful and this is what caught my eye.
Grosvenor Square
President Roosevelt
The springtime trees were lovely
But I also love these older office blocks, like this one on the corner of South Audley Street as I exited the square.
I walked down South Audley Street, which was looking very fine indeed
until a small road leading to a park I had never noticed before caught my eye
So I walked in. It was lovely. It's called Mount Street Gardens.
Leaving the park by another exit, I came across this rather extraordinary building on the corner of Farm Street (although there was no sign of any farming)
and walked on, passing this rather wonderful front door on South Street
and this beautifully painted house
before getting to Curzon Street, where I briefly considered for old times' sake going in to Trumper's for a haircut
but instead turned right and made for Hyde Park.
Crossing Park Lane, I grabbed a sneaky and slightly out-of-focus shot of one of the many self-satisfied weirdos who plague London these days
and walked into the park, for some sights of London at its best.
Leaving Hyde Park, I walked back to where I was staying. The architecture in the back streets is wonderful
but I did not have time to enter the rather lovely residents' garden in the middle of this square
Imagine having semi-private access to such a place in the very heart of London!