Cows and Canary Wharf

Millie and I have our usual walking route but to celebrate the seasonal spirit of expansion this week we dusted off the cobwebs from my Brompton and bicycled off on our very own Girls' Adventure. Freewheeling through the woodland the refrain from one of Shakespeare's poems was on my lips:

In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Each tree is just bursting with life, many are already wearing chiffon frocks of blossom in the traditional white or the more daring puce pink.  The narcissi are carpetting the banks in gold then every so often there's a patch of royal purple crocuses, crimson hyacinths and a scattering of precocious daisies more accustomed to sandals and tippy toes. And yes, there were several couples enjoying the surge of spring sap in their bodies.

Next up on our travels is Greenland Dock with its jolly houseboats with their exterior decorating of lazy deckchairs and bunting.  No longer are we greeted by the fumes of homely woodburning stoves of a few weeks ago.  It's all fresh paint and varnish now. South Dock Marina is a veritiable hive of activity working to the rhythmic clickity-clack of rattling halyards and I almost expected to see Captain Birdseye as Millie got into the zone of running along beside me.

From there, it's up to the great expanse of the Thames and the sound of the seagulls ambling about on the low tide beach. Here the contrast between the shores is at its most intense.  Directly opposite is Canary Wharf, so beautiful when it was a solitary obelisk crowned in a glorious pyramid of light, but whose magnificence now is dampened by the copycat faceless towers it spawned.  The river is wider than the Rubicon.  Crossing it is to enter the new world of high finance and marble atria.

Now we mosey on by the statues of the donkey, geese, sheep, fox and owl and into our local farm.  Yes, that's right, we have a City Farm here.  It's quite delightful.  Today, Millie and I went to look at the pigs, the geese and the calves.  There's always lots of little people around too; the smiles on children's faces lights up mine.

Surrey Docks Farm won funding to buy a big truck which will allow it to transport animals to local events and schools.  It's still all shiny and new, just like all the new Millie-size animals born in the last month or so.

I love it here.   A few summers ago we came here in the early morning for yoga and meditation to be rewarded by the big red sun rising up directly behind Canary Wharf.  Now there's a regular Kundalini Yoga class here on Sundays at the more civilised time of late morning.

Back along the river, through Russia Dock Woodland and into my favourite place of all.  There are places in our lives which become sanctuaries.  For me, Stave Hill Ecological Park is one.  Its stillness and natural order, beautifully and discreetly maintained, is a haven not only for me and the other humans who frequent it, often with our canine friends, but also for a multitude of flora and fauna.

I will never forget the day that I came across a red poppy field right here in the Ecological Park with the statuesque outline of Canary Wharf in the background.  The stark contrast brought home to me how much we need to balance the material changes to our city landscape with natural ones.

As the year evolves each day brings its own wonder: the sound of the children walking along the seeming country paths, or mooching past the pond lazily to see if there are any new frogs today; the squeals of discovery of a whole new world so unexpected in an inner city; the smell of grass, not that municipal kind, but of freshly hand scythed wild flower pastures; the screeching of the night birds and the chirpy upbeat of the robins, sparrows and blackbirds; the sight of mushrooms merrily popping up in all shapes and sizes; the rich rosehips and succulent blackberries, oh too good not to try; the opportunity to get stuck in to work with Rebeka and her team and come home with dirty clothes and a cleaned out mind.  This is the very heart and soul of our treasured community.

This whole peninsula where we live is often described as “London’s best kept secret”.  Its Ecological Park is its secret garden.  Not a day goes by when I don’t visit it and return renewed, refreshed and most of all inspired by the vision of those in charge of our public spaces.  To create something so far reaching into the community on all levels at a far deeper level than manicured lawns and prissy planting, through its mysterious embracing of nature rather than its suppression, that is a great gift indeed.