The Emerald Isle that is Dulwich

London is full of green spaces and perhaps we Londoners take them a little too much for granted. Here in Dulwich I can name 5 very different green spaces which are all very good whilst being walking distance from my house.

In fact when you look at Dulwich on the map it seems to be almost like the countryside which is a miracle given what the land is worth (rather like it’s more distinguished cousin Hampstead Heath!). If it was Spain half-built buildings would have mushroomed up all over the place…

Anyway here are my favourite green spaces in Dulwich-

1)One Tree Hill -where Queen Elizabeth might have danced naked under an oak tree and has a wonderful view of St Pauls! Its a steep climb from Brenchley Gardens or Honor Oak Park but well worth it. This is the only place where plane trees( Platanus x hispanica) are incorporated into woodland and there is also the parish church, cemetery and allotments (with a particularly friendly looking scarecrow near the gate).

2)Nunhead cemetery- which is a decaying Victorian cemetery(one of the Magnificient seven) and is now so overgrown with sycamores and ivy that it’s a nature reserve. Unfortunately, the cemetery was badly vandalized in the 70s so the chapel is just a shell but some of the clearings with Victorian angels staring skyward (with ivy twining under them) are impressive.

3) Peckham Rye Park- Includes a bowling green, Japanese garden, pergola garden and wildlife garden. Also the river Peck( which featured in Del boy’s fictional ‘Only Fools and Horses’) as the source for his bottled water, runs through it.

4) Dulwich Park- A typical Royal park with mature trees, Henry Moore sculptures,  wildflower meadow, mass plantings of  rhododendrons and large boating lake.

5) Dulwich woods- A large wooded areas with the remains of Victorian splendour such as a cedar of Lebanon, tennis courts reclaimed by nature and ruin. It also has a nature trail under the railway bridge where Pisarro painted his view of Lordship Lane railway station (which no longer exists, sadly). There are also various ponds and a good number of mature oaks as well as the interest of having an adjoining golf course, cricket pitch and allotments. Its so fantastic that this is one of my five favourite green spaces in London and is made all the more wonderful by the fact that is a small remnant of the ancient woodland called ‘The Great North Wood’ that ran from Deptford to Crystal Palace. I believe it was called this to distinguish it from the weald (or wood) , further south, in Kent and Sussex.

There are so many green spaces in Dulwich or indeed London that not all are marked. On Dunstans road there is a small green space called Dawson’s hill which runs up to the council estate on Ladlands hill( which probably has the best view in London). I know this not because I’ve been into one of the flats but because I’ve looked from the top of the park’s hill just below the flats and you get a full panorama from Canary Wharf in the east to the London Eye in the West. This is why there are suggestions that both the Romans and the Vikings used it as a fort to control the surrounding lands.

So lets remember the beauty of those things just around us before we jet off to the other side of the world….