Continuing our “Holiday at Home” week, we went to Westerham to visit Quebec House. As we were a bit early, we let Rocco have a bit of a runaround in a nearby park:

We toured the house in shifts, so Rocco & I explored Westerham itself:

then the gardens at Quebec House:

We then swapped over and I had my tour of the house:

Next stop was Chartwell for a picnic in the shade:

Followed by a walk around the gardens and woodland:

A lovely day!

The new railway across London opened last month. It used to be called Crossrail, but has now been named the Elizabeth Line, with a distinctive purple colour used for all the signage.

This was a good excuse to “play on the trains”, so we got a fast train up to London Bridge and had a few minutes to explore the increasingly pleasant area by Tooley Street:

Then a short Thameslink ride to Farringdon to explore our first Elizabeth Line station. The murals are supposed to depict diamonds, as Hatton Garden is nearby:

It all seems so new and shiny!

Some of the tunnels and escalators are quite long though:

and the platforms, with the platform edge doors, seem very different to normal tube platforms:

Despite a train every five minutes (or perhaps because), there were very few passengers:

We travelled east to Abbey Wood:

After failing to find a coffee there, we headed back west. Note the rather boring departure board:

Next stop was Woolwich, a brand new station not far from the existing Woolwich Arsenal station:

and time for a beer!

Next stop was Custom House, which mainly serves the ExCel exhibition centre:

While we were there, we looked at Royal Victoria Dock, looking splendid in the sunshine:

Then back underground to Canary Wharf, which had very strangely coloured escalators:

Canary Wharf itself was a bit busy, but the roof garden makes a nice quiet space:

Next station was Whitechapel, quite a contrast from docklands!

Again, very long tunnels and escalators between the tracks and the outside world:

Then on to Liverpool Street Station, again with very long tunnels and escalators:

Rather than walk back to the Elizabeth Line platforms, we took a Hammersmith & City tube to Paddington; the exit of which is right by the Grand Union canal and Little Venice:

After a meander along the canal, we headed back to Paddington, this time to the Elizabeth Line platforms:

and caught a train to Tottenham Court Road Station – passing through Bond Street Station, which has yet to open. Yet again, very long tunnels to get to the outside world…

From there, it was a train back to Farringdon, Thameslink to London Bridge and a fast train home. An interesting, but exhausting day.

We’re having a “Holiday at Home” this week, going out for individual days.

Our first day out was to Emmetts Garden, a nearby National Trust garden we try to visit regularly. Unfortunately, we’d missed the bluebells, but the foxgloves were out in force:

Rocco was less impressed with the plants, but was well behaved as always:

One of the nice aspects of Emmetts is that the far end of the garden goes off into normal woodland so he could run around off the lead with a stick and let off some energy:

After a break for a cup of tea, we explored the rest of the garden:

A lovely afternoon out, helped by some excellent weather!