March 2014. We lazily started looking for new areas to move back to London. Anto “was assigned” to the West – Redmond, Key, Chiswik. I selected South East – Greenwich. London is too large. You need to choose a very specific (and clearly defined) place on the map and look extensively all surroundings. I had no car. So I started walking around Greenwich. The brand new buildings facing the Thames, the old houses near the Cutty Sark, the beautiful roads lining the park. Then we discovered Blackheath, on top of the hill. Few month later, we selected South East and we rented our first house in London. SE3.
Wedged between Greenwich Park and its huge Common, Blackheath is the quintessence of London’s villages. London is not an easy place for foreigners, with its distances and chaotic traffic, but villages make this town unique.
In addition, for people like me, used to live in flats of medium-sized European towns, London offers a new choice: individual houses with own gardens. Villages and house gardens give you a new unbeatable dimension. You live 30 minutes far from Trafalgar Square – but you are still in a Village. Country-side atmosphere. Local shops. Local farmer markets. Local restaurants. Commons and parks. And your super-small but still private garden.
London offers several dimensions. Villages and individual houses and gardens are the ones that fascinate me the most.