An exact walking route through Walthamstow Village, creative quarters and the Walthamstow Wetlands reserve
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat present a walk through east London’s friendliest district, where the highest form of snobbery is which brewery you prefer.
The Walthamstow Creative Walk
Walthamstow is end-of-the-Victoria-Line London: a genuine village core, a medieval church, the childhood home of William Morris, a neon graveyard called God’s Own Junkyard, and 211 hectares of reservoirs re-opened as a nature reserve. It is a full day in one postcode.
Start and Finish
Start: Walthamstow Central.
Finish: Blackhorse Road or Tottenham Hale.
Distance: 2.5 miles.
Time: 1 hour walking, 4 hours with museums and wetlands.
Exact Directions
Exit Walthamstow Central. Walk north past Walthamstow Market (Europe’s longest daily street market, half a mile long). Turn east onto Church Lane.
In 500 metres you reach Walthamstow Village, centred on St Mary’s Church (15th century) and Orford Road (pubs, cafes, cobbles). This is the official conservation area.
Walk north-west from the Village to Lloyd Park, home to the William Morris Gallery (free, 1848 Georgian villa where Morris spent his teens). See wmgallery.org.uk.
From Lloyd Park, head east to Ravenswood Industrial Estate where God’s Own Junkyard lives. This is a warehouse full of 1,500 vintage neon signs open Friday through Sunday; there is also a bar. Tiki vibes, strong coffee, better beer. See godsownjunkyard.co.uk.
Continue north-west across the borough to Walthamstow Wetlands, Europe’s largest urban wetland reserve. Exit south-west to Blackhorse Road, or continue west across the reservoirs to Tottenham Hale.
What to See
Walthamstow Market. Walthamstow Village. St Mary’s Church. Vestry House Museum (local history). William Morris Gallery. Lloyd Park. God’s Own Junkyard. Walthamstow Wetlands. E17 Art House. Wild Card Brewery (taproom weekends).
Coffee, Toilets, Survival
Coffee: Yardarm, The Coffee Works Project, Penny Fielding’s. Food: Hucks, Eat 17, Orford Saloon. Toilets: William Morris Gallery, Wetlands visitor centre, pubs.
The Humour Interlude
Walthamstow is the only London district where a first-time visitor will, within an hour, meet a) a 30 year old opening a zero-waste grocery, b) a 70 year old who has lived on Orford Road since 1962 and remembers when it had horses, and c) a small dog wearing a coat knitted by a local retiree. All three will be supportive of each other. This is suspicious, yet true.
God’s Own Junkyard contains so much neon that it lights itself without the grid. A east London satirist has observed that Walthamstow is what happens when a neighbourhood decides to be interesting on purpose and succeeds, mostly.
Local Wisdom
God’s Own Junkyard is open Friday to Sunday. Walthamstow Market is largest on Saturdays. The E17 Art Trail happens annually in June. Allow proper time for the Wetlands.
For east London satire, see The Poke.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
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