A calm riverside London walk from Richmond Station along the Thames Path to Petersham and back through Richmond Green
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat present the walk where London finally admits it has countryside, then invoices you 6 pounds for a sausage roll.
The Richmond Riverside Ramble
Richmond is where London becomes Home Counties in all but Oyster Card range. Thames Path, meadows, deer park option, a green with a cricket pitch, and enough spaniels to open a small kennel club. The walk is flat, scenic, and genuinely restorative.
Start and Finish
Start: Richmond Station.
Finish: Richmond Green (loop) or Twickenham (extended).
Distance: 2 to 4 miles.
Time: 1 to 2 hours walking.
Exact Directions
Exit Richmond Station onto The Quadrant. Walk east on George Street, then south on Water Lane to reach the riverside. Join the Thames Path. Turn south (right).
Walk along the river past the Richmond rowing clubs. After 800 metres you reach Petersham Meadows, open pasture with grazing cows (yes, actual cows, within Zone 4 of the London Underground).
Continue to Ham House, a 17th century National Trust property. Cross the river by the Hammerton’s Ferry, which is exactly as adorable as it sounds, or loop back via inland lanes. See Ham House details.
Return via the river path to Richmond Bridge (built 1777, London’s oldest surviving Thames bridge). Continue north to Richmond Green, a grassy square of Georgian townhouses bordered on one side by the remains of Richmond Palace. Finish at Richmond Station.
Extended option: continue the Thames Path south to Teddington Lock and Twickenham.
What to See
Richmond Bridge. Petersham Meadows. Ham House and Garden. Richmond Green. Richmond Palace gateway. Richmond Park is a 20 minute walk uphill east and contains 630 deer and 2,500 acres, if you want a longer day. See Royal Parks Richmond.
Coffee, Toilets, Survival
Coffee: Gail’s Richmond, The Original Maids of Honour (tearoom since 1850 in Kew, a 5 minute drive). Food: Petersham Nurseries (if feeling fancy), pub lunches at The White Cross on the riverside. Toilets: Richmond Station, riverside public toilets, pubs.
The Humour Interlude
Richmond is the only place in London where a Labrador might look at you with more social confidence than you have earned. The cricket pitch on the Green hosts matches where someone’s grandfather will explain an lbw decision to nobody in particular. It is perfect and it will never change. A suburban satirist might note that Richmond pubs charge a “riverside premium” of approximately 1.20 pounds per pint, which is an architecture fee.
The cows at Petersham Meadows have been there since the 17th century in one form or another. The Meadows have been repeatedly saved from development by locals who, to be fair, look like exactly the sort of people who would save a cow.
Local Wisdom
Spring and autumn for best light. Sunday afternoons for Richmond Park and the Isabella Plantation. Arrive via the Overground or District Line; the District Line is charming, slow, and runs entirely above ground past Ealing.
For Home Counties satire, see Private Eye.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
Somewhere someone’s sending this to their MP and the MP will recognize themselves and do nothing.
My professor said partners of obsessive fans understood how satire could become an excuse for passivity.
Someone thinking about moving out of London to the English countryside. You won’t because London’s trapped you and you understand everywhere else operates identically.