Abbey Wood Caravan Club Site, London

This morning dawned with clear skies and the promise of summertime temperatures. We left the camp at about 9 am and headed back to Greenwich on the bus. I spent some time trying to reach the booking office for Eltham Palace who also looks after The Ranger’s House, without success. Our guide book explained that there are two tours only and surely we needed to secure our place? Frustrated by the lack of response by telephone, we called into the Information Centre and were told there that we should simply turn up, and all-comers were invited in. So we set off up the hill toward Blackheath, and found ourselves alone in the garden before the entrance to the House. At a few minutes before 11 am, the front door opened and we were beckoned inside. A couple more tourists arrived and we spent over an hour and a half exploring the English Heritage administered House and more importantly the collection displayed within.

The Ranger’s House itself is not particularly impressive, although it has housed a few royal hangers-on since it was built in 1723. But it is the eclectic collection of treasures, amassed by Julius Wernher, the German born millionaire who made his money exploiting (yes, there is that word again) the diamond deposits of South Africa. While we did find it all most interesting, the tour would appeal more to those who enjoy shows like “Antiques Roadshow” and the like.  The collection of nearly seven hundred items includes early religious paintings and Dutch Old Masters, minute carved Gothic ivories, Renaissance bronzes and silver treasures, Italian pottery, medieval and Renaissance jewellery and the erotic life-sized marble statue, “The Love of Angels”.

While we did find it all quite interesting, we found the Queen’s House more to our taste. After leaving the Ranger’s House, we picnicked in the adjacent rose gardens then walked back across Greenwich Park, past the Royal Observatory which was just as busy as yesterday, and down into the Museum space, which incorporates the Queen’s House.

Begun in 1616 as a garden retreat for Anne of Denmark, wife of James I, the House was designed by Inigo Jones and was the first fully classical building in England. It was completed in about 1638 for Queen Henrietta Maria and for more than one hundred years, it passed from queen to queen, either with the crown, or as a gift from king to his consort.

The House has been a 17^th century royal villa filled with contemporary artworks, an artist’s studio, lodgings for a royal mistress and French refugees, residence for the Ranger of the Park, a naval orphanage and school, a war-time billet, and a museum and art gallery. Today it serves once more as an art gallery and in my opinion, competes well with the National Portrait Gallery. Needless to say, we found it most impressive.

Next on the list of Greenwich attractions was St Arfege Church , this particular structure nearly three hundred years old, although there has been a church on the site for over a thousand years. Unfortunately it was closed when we called, so we had to be satisfied with circumnavigating the exterior. 

From here it was not far to the entrance tower to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, although we did detour through the market which was established by Royal Charter in 1700. Originally it sold fruit, vegetables and livestock; today there were more cafes than craft, and there were plenty of tourists enjoying the wares and services on offer. 

We walked across to Island Gardens beneath the river, us along with a hundred or so very noisy schoolchildren.  There is one thing worse than being encased in a tunnel fifteen metres under the Thames, that is being surrounded by the whoops and shrill cries of young teenagers. But as we emerged on the north side of the river, we were treated to the lovely views back to Greenwich Park and the fine buildings which line the river.

Back in Greenwich, we treated ourselves to ice-creams from our favourite Scottish restaurant then caught the bus home, this time managing to secure ourselves two of the front upstairs seats, the very best vantage spot in a bus.