London: home to the rustic and picturesque village of, um, Walthamstow
Village London
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By Peter Watts, Rebecca Taylor and Kate Hutchinson
Posted: Tue Aug 15 2006 -
Warm beer, giant vegetables and the gentle slap of leather upon willow: many London boroughs boast the classic attributes of rural life but - with extra points for sub-post offices, friendly bobbies and local eccentrics - this is the definitive test of your area's village claims. Time Out hands out the rosettes.
Barnes
Village hall
The Barnes Community Association has a prominent site in Rose House at the top of the high street, complete with noticeboard advertising the local events it organises. 9/10Cricket pitch
Barnes CC, established in 1919, has a ground 600 yards out of the village. Barnes Rugby Football Club is claimed to be the world’s oldest club, though the locals at Blackheath might have something to say about that. 6/10Village green
Yep, a classic example with a pond. Milbourne House, the oldest house in Barnes and once owned by the novelist Henry Fielding, is directly opposite. Parts of it date back to the sixteenth century. 9/10Local pub
Locals flock to the trendy but aged Sun Inn (7 Church Road, SW13, 020 8876 5893), which faces the green and does a nice pint of Deuchars IPA plus a suitably ersatz-rustique ploughman’s served on a wooden board. 7/10 Feature continuesAdvertisement
Barnes Green complete with pond Post office
The High Street has everything a village requires – including a butcher, fishmonger, baker – plus a hardware shop that doubles as a post office: the jackpot in bona fide village terms. 7/10Church
There’s the Methodist Church by Barnes Pond, but it’s only 100 years old. Much better is the ancient St Mary’s (consecrated in the thirteenth century but since rebuilt), though that’s a small hike out of town. 6/10Local bobby
The Community Association noticeboard advertises a police surgery every Sunday, 2-5pm, when you get to meet Sam Mines, the local bobby. Presumably, this is a good time to go burgling. 8/10Annual fête
Organised by the Community Association, Barnes Fair is held on Barnes Green on the second Saturday of July. 8/10Village idiot
The fact that Marc Bolan met his maker on the nearby common means the town occasionally plays host to aged glamsters, who share pavement space with the twitchers heading for the Wetland Centre. 4/10Village people
Hundreds of small children, the offspring of the moneyed thirtysomethings who are drawn here like rich people to decent schools. 7/10Local's verdict
‘It’s about as close to a village as you can get in London, with lots of local shops and things, but it’s quite big and not really all that friendly. I like it here, but it’s hardly Cornwall.’
Julie Knapper, Barnes resident
Total 71/100- Add your comment to this feature
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18 comments
How horrible of you to call Lenny the village idiot. He is well known and liked in Enfield. He'll talk to you about anything and has a wicked sense of humour. Good luck with the record Lenny!!!
Lenny is by all means NOT an idiot - he is our friend! He has been around since my sister was my age (12) and she is now 21. I hope he is around for many more years!
And Enfield is the best so don't try and beat us the rest of you - or ELSE!!! dum dum DUM!
Also don't forget the great free New River Festival on the 7th July on the banks of the Enfield Town New River loop (opposite Central Library).
Great arts event for all to enjoy.
It's great to hear you all like the Enfield Autumn Show so much.
Just to let you all know it will be on again on 8-9 September 2007. We've got even more great live music and spectacular events planned.
If you are interested in participating in the event (with a stand etc) email me on evan.kypreos@enfield.gov.uk putting Timeout - EAS in the subject bar.
Thanks
Lenny is not an idiot! His knowledge for music and T.V from the 60's & 70's is second to none! He even knows of the new music and how poor it is compared to the old! He knows everything thats going on in the town and probably knows more about the history of Enfield Town than any other person living there. A charismatic and witty guy he is, you'd love his jokes!
If you're looking for a decent bar in the area- FORM opposite the town station is surely the best??- Fab cocktails, good music and pretty special decor. highly recommendable.
Has Time Out got an agenda in voting George Galloway 'village idiot'? I suppose the more than 15,000 people who voted him in as their MP are also idiots? I think you should have left politics out of this - most people share Mr Galloway's views on the important issues such as Iraq and Tony Blair (just look at the polls).
Lenny is the eyes and ears of Enfield and always knows 'whats going down' before it appears in the local papers. His knowlege of punk music is second to none and is very articulate and witty. The only idiot is the talentless hack calling Lenny one.
Glad to see Enfield is finally getting some recognition, after years of dismissal and merciless heckling at the hands of Guardian journalists and Radio 4 commentators ('Enfield is the only place in Britain where stone cladding adds value to your house')
How could you not have found out about the Enfield Town Show?! It's fabulous! And Lenny is not an idiot.
Where is dear old Muswell Hill? It is surely the quintessential London village with fine locals, a cricket pitch, a handful of little churches, woodland areas, a high street geared towards sole traders (mainly), and one of the village church halls has a local Am Dram Society! Go there and watch a naff old play and have old biddies serve you tea and biscuits in the interval. Muswell Hill has a butcher, a baker, and no candlestick maker. visit the village with the mossy well and all within zone 3! blimey!
Enfield is a great place to live. But no fete, eh? Then what about the Enfield Autumn Show in the Town park, Sept. each year, this year 9-10 Sept. A super day out. (And Lenny is by no means an idiot. That was mean of you!)
How can you have missed out Ealing's Brentham Estate? It's a perfect example of a garden suburb! I grew up there and returned recently (15 years later) to find it as beautiful as I remembered.
Disappointed with result as in the past it was top village in your mag. We still have the arts club running and a writers' group. Can I just post these two links to the events in the area? www.walthamstowfestival.com
www.e17arttrail.co.uk
Please advertise them, in this current climate we need good vibes. Simone, a resident since 2002
What about Hampstead Garden Suburb? That's an area of london which was practically designed to be a village!