This past week, I was lucky enough to spend some time with my wife visiting her sister in London. The weather was glorious and we took a number of beautiful walks in and around Hampstead Heath, a national and natural treasure right in the heart of London’s densely populated  suburbs. It is the largest ancient parkland in London, covering an astonishing 790 acres and is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, woodlands, ancient and recent and at one of London’s highest points, offering a fantastic and protected view of the city of London from the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf and the City along with Saint Paul’s Cathedral and other notable landmarks, all in one view!

Besides offering magnificent horticultural exhibits, the heath includes multiple recreational activities from swimming year round to walking, running, tennis, picnicing and cycling. Culturally, it was a favorite setting for cloudscapes by John Constable, who lived nearby as well as inspiration for John Keats poem “ode to a Nightingale” and CS Lewis who was inspired to write the famous novel, “the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”.

One cannot help but be inspired by the beauty of the place, bustling with the multi- cultural diversity that is London, or any large city today. The parallels of this human diversity were matched equally with the bursting diversity of the flora and forna living in the heart of this national treasure.

Nature and it’s blessings have so much to offer us and indeed so much to respect. As we approach summer, I urge you all to go out and be inspired by the elements of nature around us- take a walk with love ones, smell the roses and create a slice of the simple nature in your own back yard!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Landscape Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.