My parents recently bought a boat in St Margarets, because they wanted to have something to allow them to escape and travel. I thought it was a wonderful idea, because it's like a second home for whenever we want to explore the Thames in all its glory! So the other week, I went to visit their boat with Perry and my parents to check out the area and have a weekend adventure!
The first stop of the day was a good proper roast lunch and what better way to have that then, right on the Thames edge. We stopped by The White Swan and it was the most beautiful day to visit. It was a gorgeous white building that was dressed with various wild flowers. The entrance to the pub is up two flights of stairs, because when the tide comes in... all of the area becomes flooded by over a metre high!
We decided to eat our lunch outside in the garden area and it was so special. We ate the most delicious belly of pork with crackling, roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. It was so lovely to enjoy a family lunch together by the river and have the sun shining down on us!
After our lunch we went for a long walk along the Twickenham river and embraced the wonders that it had to offer. There were so many beautiful little boats bobbing around and the swans were all dancing in the water. It was such a pretty setting!
How pretty are these gorgeous wild flowers? There were hundreds of these all around near the river and they made the area really peaceful and stunning to admire. It was the most perfect scenery for reading a book or walking your dog,,, the latter was what I did, as my family dog was with us and I enjoyed parading her along the river bank.
On all of the benches in the area, they had numerous quotes from famous literature on them. My favourite quote was "Act well your part; There all the honour lies, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind." It is all about how honor and shame is reflected on the way you act, rather than on your social condition. An example of this would be when you have a task to do. Instead of making other people do it for you, you take it upon yourself to make an honourable effort in completing it!
Whilst on our walk, we unexpectedly came across the statues of female figures, which adorn a cascade and pool in the riverside portion of the York House Gardens.
The sculptures are carved in the renowned Italian white marble of Carrara. They represent the Oceanides, or sea nymphs of Greek Mythology, and although we cannot be sure of the name of the sculptor, it is believed that they came from a Roman studio in the nineteenth century.
Unfortunately my pictures do not do the statues any justice... I wish you could have seen what I did. I cannot put into words how in awe I was when I saw them up close! The whole picture that you see of each individual sea nymph, when you take a step back and allow it to sink in, is incredible as you can admire the precision and detail of each statue, especially as each one has a different emotion on it's face! Given the fact that they are so old and hand carved, they really are quite breathtaking!
It has been such a wonderful weekend, exploring the Thames in all it's glory. And I have thoroughly enjoyed Twickenham's company and all that it has to offer! I'm so excited to return here in the Summer!
Have you travelled to anywhere nice recently?
M x
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