Once again we moved outwards from the centre of London but within the London designated boundary . The move was in the year 2000 . It was the garden that sealed the deal in as much that my wife said " she wanted it ! " . The negotiations were were difficult but ultimately we made the deal. This garden and house were our life long dream and represented decades of hard work in operating our business.
I lived in House 2, East Acton for 10 years until I was 22 years old and I got married and purchased a three bed semi detached in Greenford , five miles heading out of London in the suburbs. This house had a big garden in London terms . The key features were a small pond with a small waterfall, cherry trees and apple trees, a large lawn and a rose garden. It was hard work to keep this garden in a reasonable condition. My brother in law got me a Ransomes petrol powered lawn mower. This was an antique but top quality and I had stripes on the lawn.
At the rear of the garden there was a double garage with an apex roof and a two car covered port that had a good established grape vine growing through the trusses. I lived in this house for ten years. We moved another 5 miles out , away from the centre of London to a wonderful 4 bed detached house in a place called Eastcote. This was a particularly wide and deep plot with large gardens back and front. We transported Orange Lily`s from our Greenford garden to the new garden. Over several years we transformed these gardens into a beautiful landscaped space. We added a pond, flower beds and even a tree house when we had kids ( two boys two years apart )
We were fortunate to purchase a house that backed onto our rear boundary fence and my wife`s parents came to live there . The rear fence was taken down and my children had the run of two gardens ( lucky kids ! ). The grand parents loved this arrangement and and had unprecedented access to their two grandchildren. The garden had to be changed a little to suit young children. The ponded had a metal grill installed covering it completely and we reduced the rose garden back and made it safe ( out of bounds ) with picket fencing. The greenhouse was protected with a second layer of perspex sheeting at the lower levels.
My wife , Linda did the majority of work on this garden and grew her own plants from cuttings and seeds. I did the lawns , both gardens !. I will look for some photographs . It was truly beautiful and I enjoyed sitting watching my kids and their friends playing and running through both the gardens.
This is an aerial view of the house I was born in !. X marks the spot . The larger marked area is the school I attended . Kenmont Gardens School. My Mother was a cook in the school kitchens .Ironically my family had no garden . We lived upstairs in rented property . This was a very poor rundown area called College Park in London with small terraced houses. My family moved to state housing property. We had a small garden and my father was in his element and as a twelve year old boy I helped him shape the garden and plant flower beds. We had an apple tree ! and a small lawn with a path my father built that led to the back of the garden, some 20 feet long. My father also built a small aviary and we had Zebra finches . It was paradise to me, I loved every inch of that garden and was appreciative having never had a garden of my own.
I live in London, England and have lived in five different houses up to present time. Each time I have moved, as a child and adult I have moved outwards from the centre of London. I still live in the London area codes but now on the outskirts. The centre of London is still only 22 miles away but I live near ancient woods : Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve is 'ancient semi natural woodland' and some parts are a remnant of the Wildwood that once completely covered England after the last ice age, about 8,000 years ago. When the land was first cleared for agriculture some woodland was left to provide timber and firewood. In the case of Ruislip Woods the native trees are oaks and hornbeams. Coppicing of hornbeams is known to have occurred for over five centuries up to the 1930's but it steadily reduced thereafter and ceased by the 1950's. Coppicing restarted in 1982 and, once more, the Woods are actively managed.
I feel privileged to live so close to the centre of London but am surrounded by these woods. My id pic shows Bluebells growing wild just across the end of my road. My current house , The Moorings has very tall oak trees that were once part of the great Ruislip woods.
This is dated but shows the Long Horn cattle that graze these woods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
