This morning any walkers on the towpath between Boveney Lock and Oakley Court near Windsor may have seen the Queen on board the Alaska, the river’s oldest working steamer which was built in 1883. Her Majesty was making her first visit to Swan Upping as the annual swan count is known. Her Swan Warden, Swan […]

If you are on the Thames Path in London this Saturday you may see the Tudor river pageant making its way upstream. The Royal Shallop ‘Jubilant’ will leave the Tower of London at 10am for Hamptob Court. On board will be people dressed as Henry VIII, one of his wives and courtiers. It will be […]

Last weekend’s Summer pubs guide which came in two parts with The Guardian and the Observer featured several Thames pubs. Nearly all were ones which I have considered to have been spoilt over the last thirty years. But the reviews make interesting reading. Most encouraging is the description of The Olde Bell at Hurley where […]

The Forbes family is selling some of the pictures in Old Battersea House which was restored by the late Malcolm Forbes. He paid a peppercorn rent to Wandsworth Council in return for a massive restoration. The house can be seen peeping above  a wall across the road from the Thames Path between Battersea Old Church […]

Two days ago The Sunday Times revealed plans for a new Thames bridge in central London. Today The Times has a report about work on a possible bridge linking Kew Gardens and Syon House. This must be resisted. The joy of walking along the towpath at Kew is that the left (‘north’) bank is little […]

Boris Johnson’s plan for a new bridge across the Thames in central London is bad news. English Heritage and SE1 residents will certainly oppose it. According to today’s Sunday Times, the Mayor of London is suggesting a bridge lined with shops linking the South Bank with the Embankment. It would be midway between Waterloo Bridge […]

Radio 4’s Any Questions? comes from Cookham tonight which reminds us that the Cookham Festival starts today and runs to Bank Holiday Monday 4 May. The Sunday service on Radio 4 is coming live from Cookham Church this weekend to mark the 50th anniversary of Stanley Spencer’s death. Canon David Winter who is preaching at […]

Today’s Good Friday edition of The Times has a report on a plaque unveiled at Teddington marking the site where the newspaper’s founder John Walter lived in retirement from 1795 until his death in 1812. I was unaware of this important part of Teddington’s heritage. Sadly the house was pulled down in 1923. It’s interesting […]

One of the features of the River Thames are the church towers which downstream are aids to shipping and upstream landmarks on the Thames Path. St Sampson’s in Cricklade can be seen far away. The Thames Path passes the Southwark Cathedral gateway and Easter Day’s  Choral Eucharist  is being broadcast from there live on BBC1 […]

Henley-on-Thames’ many unique assets include the offices of the Open Spaces Society in Bell Street. Its general secretary Kate Ashbrook has always defended the rights of way along both sides of the nearby Thames. But Kate of course has a wider brief keeping watch on paths and commons which may be suddenly fenced off in […]