on London time: Richmond Park

On Sunday, I was invited to a puppy play date by a couple I think I can call my first friends in London! How exciting!! Of course, it was actually Chewie who made friends first and he can keep Jonah, but I'm co-opting the humans ;) So little Chews and I boarded a bus to take us to Richmond Park to meet our new friends mid-afternoon (he will be such a seasoned traveller by the time we leave England!) No one batted an eyelash to a dog getting on the bus, we sat on the upper deck and I think he quite enjoyed the view from the top. It amazes me how fast the ride is to Richmond- so fast we got to the park a half hour before our scheduled meeting time. That gave us a few minutes to explore a public footpath that goes from the park to the Thames. It would be a very nice walk in much nicer weather.. Richmond is a beautiful town to explore seeing as how fancy the homes are.

Back to Richmond Park though- it really is an amazing place. It's positively massive in it's size and it was more hilly than I imagined it to be. There are marshlands and ponds and small forests and glens. The park is kept well, but definitely not manicured- it seems to be a true wild area in the midst of an enormous city. There are even trees 500 years old! It was King Henry VIII's hunting grounds and there are still deer roaming... we didn't see any however ;)

We did see many ducks, geese and other dogs. Needless to say, Chewie greeted every dog. He is still relatively new to walking off the lead and he did pretty well. He runs off like a little bullet anytime he sees a new dog, but comes back after he's had his fun... as long as there is a treat reward. Unfortunately, I had forgotten his treats so it became a group effort to get him back to us a few times. And there were a few other times that I just kept him on the lead because its just so much easier. In a very quintessential British way, one of my companions remarked, "Chewie is a bit of free spirit, isn't he? Perhaps he should have a passport." We joked that he was acting as a park ambassador surveying all visitors we came across. But, I think he had the time of his life.

After our walk in the park, we had tea at the nearby Petersham Nurseries. It's a tea house, garden center, retail shop and newly Michelin-starred restaurant all in one complex. And it's perfectly gorgeous! They allow dogs in the tea house portion and the boys were happy to join us, especially since it was warm and cozy in the greenhouse. It was a lovely afternoon despite the typical London weather (cloudy, cold, off-and-on rain, etc...) and I'm looking forward to returning to Richmond Park and Petersham Nurseries both with my new friends and old!