Penny Travels - Travelling the world, near and far, one step at a time.

Tube Stop Baby: Kensington (Olympia)

March 17, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Did you know that if you want to do the challenge of visiting all 270 London Underground stations in the shortest time possible, there are only certain days of the year that it is technically possible? This is all due to the slight anomaly that is Kensington (Olympia).

Situated at the end of a tiny little branch on the District line that goes up from Earls Court, Kensington (Olympia) station is situated right next to the Olympia exhibition centre. This is in fact the reason that Tube Stop Baby got to visit the station so early on in the challenge – I was going to Olympia for the Toy Fair as part of my work over on Penny Plays.

These days Kensington (Olympia) is only served by District line trains at the weekend, or when there are certain events on at neighbouring Olympia – the Great British Beer Festival being one of the most noteworthy reasons! This makes it the least served station on the whole of the London Underground. I could probably waffle on here about exactly when it is served, and why, but there’s a tube expert (and former world record holder) who can do that far better than I can!

It does pose a whole tonne of questions about just how long London Underground might keep serving Kensington (Olympia) or whether they might just leave it to the National Rail services that run to the other platforms there.

It’s a bit of a sad decline really for a station that in the early 1970s was planned to be the main London terminus for Channel Tunnel trains! Over the years services have run from there to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The station was served by milk trains and was also part of the Government’s Cold War plans in case of a need to relocate Government away from London. When Eurostar used to run into Waterloo, their trains used to pass through Kensington (Olympia) on their way to the North Pole depot and the station even had basic back up immigration facilities in case of an incoming train having to be diverted away from Waterloo for some reason. Up until 1981 the station was even a terminal for Motorail trains. These moved to Paddington, Euston and Kings Cross before being finally being withdrawn in Summer 2005. There’s still a small reminder of Kensington (Olympia)’s role in this part of British Rail history though as what was the terminal is now a car park and named “Olympia Motorail Car Park P4”.

For the sake of completeness I should note that we arrived and departed Kensington (Olympia) on London Overground seeing as the District line wasn’t running that day!

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Kensington (Olympia)

Date of visit: 22 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – District

Zone: 2

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Paddington (Circle and Hammersmith & City)

March 17, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Paddington is another station where there are technically two different stations – in this case located in different parts of the mainline station. Our first visit took us to the section that serves the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, but there is a separate section serving the District, Circle and Bakerloo lines. You may well get a bit confused seeing the Circle line serving both Paddington underground stations, but this is only the case since the circle line stopped being an actual circle! Confused yet? You’re not the only one!

The station was originally called Paddington Bishop’s Road and was the termini of the original Metropolitan Railway. Its name changed to just Paddington in the 1930s.

Originally the station was just served by what became known as the Hammersmith and City line, but that changed to be the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines in 2009 when the Circle line was changed to include the branch between Edgware Road and Hammersmith. It was rebuilt in 2012 – 2013 so that it could accommodate longer trains and a new entrance into Paddington Basin was also added.

This Paddington Tube station may be a little further away from the main station concourse than the other one is, but if you’re going there and have not previously admired the splendour of this London terminus of the Great Western Railway then you really must. Designed by Brunel it really is a spectacular example of engineering grandeur.

And whilst you’re hanging around Paddington there’s a certain little bear that you really must go and say hello to.

We’ll back another day to venture into this part of Paddington – a whole separate world as far as a London Underground statism count is concerned!

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Paddington (Circle and Hammersmith & City)

Date of visit: 10 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – Circle and Hammersmith & City

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby – Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City)

March 7, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Edgware Road is a station that catches people out in Zone 1. Mainly because there are actually two completely separate stations with exactly the same name!

In this particular visit with Tube Stop Baby we went to the original Edgware Road station that is on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines and that formed part of the original Metropolitan Railway. Confusingly, about 150m away, on the opposite side of the Marylebone Road, is a separate Edgware Road station serving the Bakerloo line. There have been various campaigns to change the name of the Bakerloo line station to avoid confusion, but nothing has ever come from these proposals.

Edgware Road (the one we visited here!) is a busy station with four platforms serving the three lines that it is on – Circle, Hammersmith & City and District. It used to be that it was the northern terminus of the District line and Circle and Hammersmith and City line trains would both pass through before diverging as they headed towards Paddington. All that changed though in December 2009 when the circle line stopped being a circle!

In 2009 the Circle line was extended to include the section from Edgware Road to Hammersmith, where just the Hammersmith & City line had served before. This means that trains now start at Hammersmith, go up to Edgware Road, pass through the station heading East towards Kings Cross and then continue around the old circle line loop before terminating when they reach Edgware Road for the second time. And then they do the whole thing in reverse!

It’s as confusing as anything, especially when you try to explain to a tourist that doesn’t speak good English that the circle line is no longer a circle, but the whole thing was done to try to regulate the service more. Never mind anyone that is confused in the process!

Also worth a look whilst you’re visiting Edgware Road is the cladding on the London Underground building next door. Called Wrapper it was commissioned as part of Art on the Underground and certainly brightens up the previously grey view as you was for a train.

Our visit to Edgware Road was only brief with us only staying long enough for a couple of photographs on the platforms. When I was a student in London this was my local station for a year and I remember it fondly. Situated in a cutting rather than a tunnel it always felt a bit like you were tucked away down there and coming out onto the street always felt so in credibly busy and a big contrast to being down at platform level. A second visit to the main part of the station is very likely to happen.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City)

Date of visit: 10 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – Circle, Hammersmith & City and District

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Baker Street

March 3, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

It’s impossible to say everything that I want to say about Baker Street station in just one blog post. The place is packed full of London Underground history and as a result is firmly one of my favourite tube stations.

Baker Street was one of the original stations on the Metropolitan Railway and the area around the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Line platforms is packed with reminders of this history. As well as information boards telling people about the original line through the station there are lots of little touches that remind you of its history.

On our visit we only made it as far as these sub-surface lines, but I am hoping that a future trip will take us down to the deep level lines where there is some particularly attractive Sherlock Holmes tiling that I hope I can share with readers.

There are two separate areas to the sub-surface lines at Baker Street. Firstly the through platforms for the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. This is where you find most of the history and this is indeed where the original line continued on to Edgware Road.

Just to the north of these platforms are the area where the Metropolitan Line trains go before heading north. It’s worth pointing out the gorgeous ornate wooden gateway dating from about 1930 that you pass through as you go between the different platform areas. Look up and you’ll see the destinations of the trains from those platform.

Some Met Line services terminate at Baker Street from the north and so there are two terminating platforms as well as two through platforms. The track for these curves round just to the East of the Circle and Hammersmith & City line platforms, allowing Met Line trains to continue through towards Aldgate.

That’s a total of six platforms at the station for the sub-surface lines. Although we didn’t visit them on this trip, there are an additional four platforms at deep level – two each for the Jubilee and Bakerloo lines. That makes a total of ten platforms, making it the station with the most London Underground platforms anywhere in the tube network.

Definitely another station that requires more than one visit as part of our challenge.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Baker Street

Date of visit: 10 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Jubilee and Bakerloo

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

[AD] Lee Valley Park Farms – Conservation Week Visit

February 25, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

There’s something magical about taking children around a farm. We’re quite lucky in that our usual journey to school goes through the countryside and past several farms. We often spend the journey talking about the sheep and lambs in the field, or the horses that we regularly drive past. We’ve even had the delights of a muntjac deer on the road infant of us and an owl flying alongside the car one morning! Not everyone is fortunate enough to see animals up close this regularly though, and that’s why visits to places like Lee Valley Park Farms are so good. Children can really get up close to the animals and learn so much from them.

We were invited to visit Lee Valley Park Farms during half term which was when they were running their conservation week. I’ve been to the Lee Valley plenty of times with the kids before, but this was my first visit to the farm itself.

As soon as we arrived at the car park we could tell that we’d come somewhere popular. It was a beautiful day (more like April than February) and despite arriving only an hour after opening the main carpark was already full and we joined other visitors parking in the overflow one. There was also a queue to get into the reception area, but I’m pleased to say that this moved reasonably fast.

Animals

There’s a great selection of animals at Lee Valley Park Farms. Everything from the expected pigs, sheep, goats and cows through to more exotic animals like meerkats, bearded dragons and miniature zebu (which I have to admit I’d never even heard of before last week!). The kids loved going round the farmyard area and seeing lots of familiar faces. You can also buy bags of food from reception so that you can feed some of the farmyard animals. Both Little Miss C and Master C really enjoyed this. It was Tube Stop Baby’s first visit to a farm and she was more than a tad wary of coming face to face with some of the animals for the first time.

We timed our visit so that we could attend a talk in Critter Corner and LMC was thrilled to get to stroke a bearded dragon as it’s been one of her favourite animals for ages. Master C and I also attended a birds of prey talk and it was amazing to see the birds fling around, close to the audience.

Master C’s highlight of the visit was getting to feed one of the guinea pigs. It’s something that he normally shies away from doing, but the staff encouraged him to have a go and he got a real thrill from eating it eat the lettuce he gave it. Although he does since keep telling anyone who listens that he fed a hamster! I might have to keep educating him on the difference.

Play areas

The other part of the farm that the kids loved were the numerous play areas dotted around the site. There’s indoor play in the Bundle Barn (which we didn’t visit) but also the Dino Dig and Splash where they spent ages digging in the sand, the Farmyard Adventure where they climbed and climbed, and also the Hilltop Adventure where they bounced for ages on the giant pillow. Near the Hilltop Adventure there is also the Alpine Adventure Toboggan Run which they thought was great fun.

Accessibility and Facilities

We visited the farm with all four kids and this meant that we had Tube Stop Baby with us in her pram. I should warn readers that the site is on a hill, and whilst it is entirely possible to get around all of it with a pram or pushchair, it is hard going in places. I certainly felt like my arm and leg muscles were getting quite a workout as the day went on. It is also worth noting that the only working toilets on the day that we visited where down by the reception area. This meant one trek back down with Master C when he needed the loo, and also alfresco nappy changes for TSB as we quite simply couldn’t be bothered to walk all the way back down with the pram every time she had a dirty nappy!

We took a picnic with us and as the weather was so glorious it was lovely to sit and eat it in the sunshine. There were plenty of places for us to sit near the play areas and full picnic tables up near the Hilltop Adventure. We also had no problem finding rubbish bins to put our waste in afterwards. The only problem we had is that the sun was quite unrelenting and there was no shade up at the Hilltop Adventure. There were some structures that that we could imagine some shade being strung between possibly, but I’d certainly make sure you take sun hats etc if you visit on a hot day.

For those that want to buy food there there was a lovely looking cafe down by the reception area and it also looked like a kiosk by the Farmyard Adventure, although this wasn’t open when we visited.

Lee Valley Park Farms – our thoughts

We had a great family day out at Lee Valley Park Farms. It was our first time out as a family of six and we were particularly lucky that we had perfect weather for it. They all had a great day out and seemed to particular enjoy meeting the bearded dragon and guinea pigs. The play areas were also a huge hit.

For me one of the nicest things was just sitting in the sunshine as they played and looking around me. When you’re at the farm it’s hard to remember that you’re really not all that far from London and the busy M25. At moments it almost felt like I was looking round at the Yorkshire Dales instead!

Lee Valley Park Farms – what you need to know

Lee Valley Park Farms are located in Waltham Abbey, Essex, not far from Junction 25 of the M25 (the A10 junction). There is free onsite parking. And, if you’re inspired by my recent post on geocaching, there’s a lovely little geocache not far from the car park that is very kid friendly.

The full address is: Lee Valley Park Farms, Stubbins Hall Lane, Waltham Abbey, Essex, EN9 2EF. This postcode is the best one to use in a SatNav.

The farm is open 10am to 5pm every day from 16 February – 3 November 2019.

There are peak and off peak entry fees for the farm, with everyone over the age of 2 costing the same. £10 at peak times and £6 at non-peak. Grandparents receive a 20% discount on Wednesdays.

More details can be found on their website.

Disclaimer: We were invited to visit Lee Valley Park Farms as guests for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own.

Tube Stop Baby – Great Portland Street

February 19, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Just a short trip around from Euston Square (or a short walk up the Euston Road if you’re above ground) you come to Tube Stop Baby’s next station to tick off the list – Great Portland Street.

Above ground the station basically sits in the middle of a roundabout. But a very attractive roundabout if you’re a tube fan like myself. We didn’t manage a visit to the outside part of the station with Tube Stop Baby this time around, but I’m pretty sure we will return at some point. Possibly on a trip to Regents Park or nearby London Zoo.

Great Portland Street station is like its neighbours Euston Square and Baker Street in that it formed part of the very original Metropolitan Railway. The station has undergone quite a few identity changes though. It originally opened as Portland Road (1863), before later becoming Great Portland Street (1917). It hasn’t been the case ever since though. 1923 saw it become Great Portland Street and Regents Park although the Regents Park part was then dropped in 1933 and it went back to being Great Portland Street as we know it today. I had wondered if the Regents Park element of the title was dropped to tie in with the opening of the nearby Bakerloo line station of the same name, but a bit of research suggests that actually opened in 1906. I might need to do a tad more research to understand exactly what went on there.

Down at platform level the station has a really atmospheric feel to it (much like at Baker Street) mainly from the lights hanging from the ceiling. At the western end of the platform you can see daylight. Whilst this might be unexpected to some visitors it comes from the days when steam trains used to run along this part of the underground and they needed somewhere for the steam and smoke to escape.

This challenge so far is really showing me that I want to explore all these stations both above and below ground, but with Tube Stop Baby in a pram for most of the time this is quite a challenge at the moment as the tube network is far from fully accessible. It might just be that separate visits have to be made to each level of the stations for now!