Wimbledon Village

We moved to Wimbledon in South West London in 2009 largely to be close to the wonderful Wimbledon Village Stables, where my lovely, old grey horse was in livery, and London’s best and most extensive riding over Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. But since moving here I’ve come to appreciate many aspects of Wimbledon life, the joys of walking, cycling and just chilling on Wimbledon Common, and particularly the many treasures among the restaurants in Wimbledon Village. I’ve discovered that there’s so much more to this little part of London than the Wombles and the annual tennis tournament which has made it world famous – there’s a rich history and a thriving community and, of interest to me in particular (as a book addict) a fascinating and important literary history and myriad literary associations.

Walking around the Common and the village, and occasional longer hikes on foot, horseback or bicycle, is a constant pleasure as there’s always something new to discover or an old friend to revisit: watching the seasons turn or more human-dictated changes in the area where, as they say, “town meets country”. Sometimes I see things that make me think. The notes that appear here are simply a record of those thoughts and as such they are necessarily random and vary in nature. My father passed away in 2012 and often the things I see make me think of him, and how much I would like to be able to share them with him. He would have loved life in Wimbledon so much, so some of the entries are loosely written as a one-sided conversation with him. These are very personal impressions of the place where I live and I wholly accept that others will have different views and experiences.