Now, if you've been to our Bangalore – you'd have noticed the Richmond road, the Richmond Hotel, the Richmond-this-and-that (I think I also saw a “Richmond Ice cream parlour” once). So hold your bursting curiousity to see what other things are associated with the namesake.
Richmond, might look deceptively, like the rest of london. Brownish red brick lanes, with the Top Shops and “English Breakfast here” signs. One would need “insight” or an “insider” to find the “Maid of Honours” - a six row house, built for the maids of honours of the Princess of Wales.
The area around Richmond green, reminds me of the Elvis Presley song (though, I should be singing Rolling Stones around this place, really) - “a lil less conversation, a lil more action please”. There's a lot of action packed around this area, with very less talk. If you don't have the Watson eye (Sherlock eyes would be a bit too detailed and tedious. Watsons' should do nicely), you'll be missing out on tales of ups-and-downs, grandeur, deceit, revelry and of chronicled history.
Starting from the Shene-times (when Richmond was known to be a part of the Sheen-province) five centuries ago, this green has stood witness to many important things, events and people in English history. King Henry I, King Henry VII, William shakespeare, Elizabeth I were some notable inhabitants of the area around the green. If you're into history, like I am, you'll lap up the stories of Old Palace like a persian cat would lap up warm milk.
Notable buildings around this area – and by that, I mean, historical ones – are the Wardrobe (where soft furnishings of the rich palace were kept. Also where Elizabeth I kept her clothes.), the bits of the old palace (burnt down during the civil disobedience), the trumpeteer. They all lace the Richmond Green. Definitely go by the Cricket club that borders the green. Just cause the name says Cricket and just cause I say so.
But of course, its true that Cricket is and was played on the greens
here.I was told by a proud Richmond-er, “here lived shakespeare” and “here lived attenborough” while we strolled around the Richmond green. Oh wait, in case you're still unimpressed, so did the Rolling Stones.
Walking by the bridge, was, I thought- beautiful. Thames seems like a lovely little canal at places, flowing obediently into the heavily engineered paths – none visible. While I sipped on some wine, in the pub, I was proudly told, by a Richmond-er, “Richmond does not flood – Queen Victoria says so”. There are canals and channels, big tubes, I hear, that run underneath the ground, just by the
banks that flood-proof this area. The bridge walk path leads straight to the Hampstead palace, of which I've nothing but nice-things. The bridge itself, I am told, was a means to carry wealthy british aristocracy across to the other end.
Properties of the rich and famous line the river. I made a mental note to myself, which went, “Nithya, be rich soon”, when I strolled past them. I hear there are millionaires from Russia, billionaires from Malaysia and globe-over living here, so on so forth. I know – yes, make that mental note. I'll give you a minute to do that.
My description of a Richmond trip would be geographically speaking, 60% incomplete – if we left Richmond Old Deer Park. Ofcourse, it was used for hunting deer, in the yesteryears. Queen Elizabeth I, is known to have spent a considerable amount of time here. Now, its a dear-Old-park, with sprawling acres of land, all green. Give your lungs and feet some exercise and air out here. Richmond Hill has the Petersham hotel (Ofcourse you're going “savvy!” in your head). Notable houses that line the hill, are the Wick. The Downe house. But these look like a dark red button embroidered in a dark red cloth – so wear your glasses when you go looking. “Seek and you shalt
find”. Somewhere in this dark cloth is the poppies factory, those that make Remembrance Day poppies. The proceeds of the same goes into maintaining the Royal Star and Garter Home, a military hospital (once hotel) for the war-wounded, atop the hill.
These are just minor reasons for you to make that climb to the hill top. The biggest reason is view of the thames-bend from atop the hill. This has been painted and painted and painted by so many artists. It has been the subject of much poetry. I think this is where I get another glimpse of the British sense of simplicity in beauty. The view, is “simply” beautiful. I've always thought that– if something is simple, it must be beautiful and vice versa. There's no too much ado about it, but its captivating in that very aspect. You'll see.
There's a lot of up-town shops again on richmond hill. Fancier eateries and pubs. But you and I have seen that already. The part that pulls me towards Richmond, blame it on my hey-look-there's- water-attitude, is the Thames walk – where we can walk by the river. There's no hullabaloo around this part of the city – no big touristy posters saying “awesome history found here”. I could have walked by Richmond and all of it, being completely blind to its many assets. But that would have been a shame – I'd have missed out on one of the most affluent, beautiful, “rich” parts of the city, with a rich history, rich present and seemingly rich future.
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