please empty your brain below

Shortly after I grudgingly moved to north-central Sutton earlier this year, I thought I'd check out the local walks and 'proper' green spaces (not that there are many - finally I settled on Cheam Park+Nonsuch Park as my favorite, even though it's a 40-minute walk through boring streets for me to get to the nearest edge of it).

Sometimes I walk around the stockbroker belt neighbourhood in south Sutton, which is pleasant with some lovely homes and tree-lined streets with some silly names (like The Gallop), but is the kind of neighbourhood where random folks don't walk for long stretches on the pavement and up and down successive streets (most walking there is from house to garage to driveway to car), so one feels conspicuous there.

Having been pleasantly surprised on my first visit to Nonsuch Park a couple of miles west, I decided to walk around Carshalton and Beddington Park to the east, which didn't live up to my expectations. Lots of traffic, not that cute, not that attractive, the small parks and ponds very disappointing, the big park not so good and mainly boring, the middling stately home at the edge a closed, private school now, some dodgy atmospheres on some (most) of the streets.... Eeew, I decided never to go back eastwards, since Nonsuch and Cheam were so much more pleasant to the west. [On the plus side, I realized I now knew how to get to Ikea South on foot, if the need arose, since I could see the Ikea towers poking up from beyond Beddington Park.]

Anyway, on that walk eastwards of Sutton, which took up most of an afternoon and evening, I was curious about the Wandle path and I tried it out - basically I did the part that DG missed out this time, from Morden to Waddon etc. - and it was also quite disappointing (to me, anyway) - hardly anything to see, sometimes you couldn't even see water. I was amazed that it was deemed interesting enough to be a special walk. I'm sure that I'm spoiled, having lived in East Molesey for 18 months and walking the Thames path every evening, having lived next to Regent's Park for years, after residing just below Hampstead Heath for years, etc. (although during those periods I deliberately gave up on space, housing quality, privacy, and other considerations in order to live near nice outdoor spaces.)

But honestly, from the Sutton/Carshalton area, I'd rather take the train or bus a little bit away to Dorking/Westhumble and go on a walk in the Surrey Hills AONB than I would scramble around in the bleak environs of down-at-heel neighbourhoods in northernish Sutton/Carshalton (and most of Merton and parts of Morden feel quite iffy, indeed) just to trace the Wandle. On my visit (a warm summer's day), it didn't seem that many local people take advantage of the walk. It was so deserted that I was too nervous to follow the one or two spots where you could walk onto a little wooded island sort of area and then return to the walk. This area feels less prosperous than perhaps it might once have been, some of the walk was surrounded by housing estates, and even in its heyday it was the much less prosperous side of Sutton/Carshalton etc. -- and it was no surprise to me at all that Croydon saw so much riot activity two months ago, and that Sutton had riot damage as well. (My neighbour works for Wimbledon Police and said that Merton is their crime hotspot and not to travel via that station, etc.)

But absolutely, Cheam Park, the gardens of Nonsuch Mansion, and Nonsuch Park are lovely. There are parts of real magic and beauty, and it's quite huge, considering that it's hardly known about or talked about outside of the local area. I walk over there at least once a week.

Apart from the Morden hall unit, there are plans to install 4 Archemedes screws at Teddington Lock Weir.

@cm: Wow, that's a lot of words to say "I didn't like it; poor people live there".

Yes, Cheam, Ewell, Nonsuch are nicer, but shortly after I (also somewhat grudgingly) moved to Croydon earlier this year I've had many pleasant walks along the Wandle, through Beddington Park (whose church and school I find rather charming) to Carshalton (which I agree is traffic-choked, but then so's Cheam!). It's an industrial area - always was - so it's never going to be beautiful; but the water is admirably clean and it's a real asset for the people who live near it.

cm, I can't agree about Nonsuch - I've always found it disappointing and dull next to going from Carshalton Ponds over to Waddon. None of them qualify as "countryside", so I'd rather walk through the more interesting bits that aren't pretending to be so. It probably helps that Beddington Park is about a 4 minute walk out my door, but I used to live in central Sutton and felt the same way.

You're dead right about just taking the train down to the North Downs if you want to get out.

Ah, good, you've finally mentioned the Merton Abbey Mills waterwheel and Morden Hall Park - both local attractions for me! Didn't know about that blog, though. I find the second-hand bookshop to be a little sad and disappointing, but the National Trust cafe (opposite the massive garden centre) is a must-eat-at.

I enjoyed reading this post. The Wandle footpath is right behind the pitch where I occasionally play football. Next time, I will arrive early and take a jog along the path for my warm up.

cm - in many ways the Wandle Trail is a not the greatest but I'd say the worse bits are up round Wandsworth where it doesn't even go near the river! However for an urban walk I found it quite nice.

I was more surprised however by the Beverley Brook walk which starts in New Malden and runs to Putney. The Beverley Brook is another Thames tributary and the walk is really nice with some unexpected moments. Funnily enough I'll be blogging about it on my own site (http://www.planetbods.org/blog/) on Tuesday! I'd do the shameless plug for my own four part series on the Wandle Trail but Mr Geezer has kindly beaten me to it. However I do suggest visiting the gloriously tacked on "part 5" about the Wandle and beer, published Friday morning ;)











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