Greenwich Peninsula in London is fast becoming the trendiest place to move to and with thousands of new houses, shops, bars and waterside recreation its easy to see why. It is also a great place to spend a day or two, and with a fantastic art trail to follow why not plan a trip there yourself? The…
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Millions of people walk past ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’ on the Victoria Embankment in London. Few may recognise this obelisk is truly ancient and the oldest monument on the Thames Path National Trail. The 21 metre high obelisk is at least a thousand years older that Queen Cleopatra. It was carved from…
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The River Thames and the landscapes around it in Richmond, Twickenham and Windsor feature in many of the paintings by the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner, considered to be the greatest and most influential British artist of all time. Turner 250 is a year-long festival of events and exhibitions…
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Look out for springtime flowers along the Thames Path starting with hedgerow trees. The Blackthorn, a tree with spiky, dark purple branches, has many scented white flowers springing out of their tight buds. At this stage there are no leaves on Blackthorn branches. Blackthorn blossom is so thick that…
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Every spring the nodding bell-shaped flowers of Snake’s-head fritillary plants fill riverside flood-meadows near Cricklade and Oxford. Most flowers have purple and pink chequered flower petals, and there are pure white flowers too. This beautiful and nationally-scarce flower is named after the shape…
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This is ‘Heaven on Earth’ wrote the philosopher and designer William Morris when he visited Kelmscott Manor, the beautiful historic manor house overlooking the Thames near Lechlade. Morris rented the Manor in 1871 as the perfect retreat for his family from their busy lives in London where he had his…
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Hello and welcome to the brand-new Thames Path National Trail blog! So what is the Thames Path National Trail I hear you shout? It is a long-distance walking trail that follows the River Thames from its source in the Cotswolds all the way to London. It is 185.2 miles (298 km) long, which is a lot of…
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