Walk Report

The Twickenham Sausage, Wednesday 10th July 2019
11 walkers, 8 miles - leaders Gail and John Elrick
The title of the walk referred to the shape of the route, sadly not to refreshments being provided. In fact the aim of the walk was to take in houses and points of interest from Twickenham as well of course exercising our legs!
The first highlight of the walk was to visit the amazing exuberant statues of several naked ladies disporting themselves among the vegetation close to the riverside and Eel Pie Island. Slightly stunned by them we proceeded via the grounds of York House (the very upmarket Council offices) to the alleyways of Old Twickenham and their pretty Georgian cottages and our next interesting house, Orleans House. This gets its name as it was used for a brief period by the Duc d'Orleans, Louis Philippe (later King of France) when exiled from France and is now a gallery. After a brief perusal of the exterior the team were swept through the grounds and via a door in the wall towards the really posh part of Twickenham. This contains the glorious Georgian (and some Victorian) buildings of Montpelier Row and the house used by Walter de la Mare and another house occupied by Tennyson and Pete Townshend (but not at the same time). Reeling from this it was nice to enter the grounds of Marble Hill House, and to watch some local lads playing cricket. Skirting the house itself (former home of the Countess of Devonshire and mistress of George II) the route neatly took us back to the river and towards one end of the sausage at Richmond Bridge.
Leaving the Middlesex side of the River the Bridge took us to the Surrey side where we were able to admire the cattle (Belted Galloways) in Petersham Meadows and gaze across to the riverside we had just travelled along. This section gave everyone the opportunity to concentrate on striding along the towpath as far as Teddington Lock and the other end of the sausage. After crossing the lock back to Middlesex sadly now we had to abandon the river as there is no path here but we had two treats in store, a look (outside only) of the Waldegrave Arms, supposedly used by the Great Train Robbers before and after the event in 1963. Then a short distance further and by way of complete contrast a view of Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole's Gothic masterpiece. A short foray into Radnor Gardens enabled us to return to the river and thence to our local Wetherspoon where we were able to enjoy a drink of Twickenham's local ale, Naked Ladies!
Photograph by John Elrick; more by Iain Fairweather are on the Group Facebook site

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