The entire world is familiar with Wimbledon for the tennis championship held for two exciting weeks each summer. This year it begins June 21st to July 4th, so it’s just a few weeks away, as I write this story I am sitting in the recently upgraded Hand & Racquet pub enjoying lunch and the view of the Broadway, the main street running through the town. Although this town enjoys fame for a “fortnight” each year, it’s really a wonderful place to visit anytime.
When you arrive you will find a terrific blend of friendly worldwide residents with a large contingent from both Australia and South Africa.
There are two areas, Wimbledon Town and a short walk up Wimbledon Hill you will find Wimbledon Village. These are two very different places to visit, the Town is a bustling, high traffic suburb of London, it enjoys a popular theatre, an outdoor market called Abbey Mills, a large department store Elys, Center Court Shopping Centre and a mainline and tube station that can get you almost anywhere in London and the UK.
Take a ten minute walk up the hill and you arrive in a very different world, the “Village” is a much more upscale location where real estate price will amaze you, million dollar homes abound! The shopping includes high end stores like Moulton Brown and Helen Van Gutenberg, a number of excellent places to eat, welcoming pubs, several golf courses and a huge common where locals run, walk the dog and ride horses. You will also find the best hotel offering in Wimbledon overlooking the Common, called Cannizaro House, a boutique four star property. The other side of the common as you enter the village is the Rose & Crown pub that serves good food and offer good accommodations. The famous tennis facility is just a 10 minute walk from the village and if you are not fortunate enough to be here for the tournament, you can always visit the museum and enjoy a guided tour, it’s a must for all tennis fans.
There are a variety of good eating places from the pubs, including the already mentioned Rose & Crown, particularly for Sunday Roast by the way, the Crooked Billet and the Hand in Hand, to the upscale Lydon’s Restaurant and the Butcher & Grill a highly recommended location to enjoy a full English breakfast. If you would like to enjoy some good food or just a coffee and a brilliant people watching spot, head for Maison St Cassien Restaurant below the clock tower, it always seems to be busy both inside and outside all year round. The Common Room is a pretty good location for people watching too and it’s just up the street. Also be sure to stop at the Village Bakery, yummy!
If you are a golfer there are several good options, the best is Royal Wimbledon and Wimbledon Park, both are private golf courses, however, as with most UK courses, all you need to do is contact them via email and in most cases will allow you to play, you just have to ask and have a reasonable handicap. The best chance of getting a tee time is to request a week day, as members have priority at weekends.
The village also has its own stable, so if you would like to take a ride on the common, hourly rides are available. But beware of the golf balls, there is actually a golf course within the common, two actually, they each own nine holes, and players have to wear red so you can see them easily!
Head back down the hill to the town, and you will find several good options for staying a night or two, including a wonderful B&B called Justin James, just a few minutes’ walk from the center of town and two excellent apartment rental buildings in the middle of town and the Antoinette Hotel slightly south of the town center.
Other locations of note is the Polka Theatre, a children’s theatre, the Village Fair on June 19th, the Windmill Museum on the common with its popular restaurant that rumor has it Mike Jaggar visits on occasion for breakfast, The Alexandria pub if you would like to catch a World Cup game and the Wimbledon Society Museum, where you can learn about the areas rich history.
So if you are staying in London and feel like exploring Wimbledon for the day, jump on a train from Waterloo Station, it’s just GBP 5.30 return (roundtrip) and takes only 15 minutes, and the trip back you will find trains leaving every few minutes from platform 5.
I should mention at this point that I was born just a 15 minute walk from the center of Wimbledon, so I am rather biased, I love this area, and one of these days I will own a small cottage in the village…in my dreams! |
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