the raven

This year we will be going to a new location for London Grove, Hainault Forest Country Park. The nearest tube station is Hainault, which is at the end of the Central Line.

We will meet up at Hainault tube station first, at 3 p.m., and then any car drivers can ferry non-drivers to the car park nearest the woods, opposite the Camelot pub. Daniel will drive, so there will be at least one driver there, and as the forest is only a few minute’s drive away from there, we can make more than one trip if needed. However, Daniel would prefer if one other person was able to share the driving – so if you are able and willing to drive on the day, please would you contact him in the next couple of weeks on 020 8771 6941 or put a comment on this topic to say so. If you do choose to drive, the place to park will be on one of the side roads near Hainault tube station, e.g. Thurlow Gardens or Lancelot Road. Map of Hainault station area

For anyone who wants to chance turning up late, or just for curiosity, it is possible to get bus 150 from the other side of New North Road to the station exit, to the end of the route at The Maypole pub in Chigwell Row. Then you would need to walk down Lambourne Road towards Lambourne End for a half mile or so, until you get to Camelot pub. However, I don’t recommend this as it will be difficult to find us in the wood (there aren’t many footpaths, and there are plenty of trees!) This map shows roughly where we will be going, starting from the car park most towards the top right of the map.
Map of Hainault Forest area showing start of walk into forest

We will drive you back to Hainault tube station afterwards if you need a lift.

If anyone has a burning desire to take on the role of May Queen or Green King please feel free to volunteer in advance, otherwise we shall see how the mood takes anyone on the day!

Otherwise, please phone Daniel or Lorraine on 020 8771 6941 a day or two before the ceremony to let us know if you are definitely coming along. If you run into any delays on the way to the ceremony, you can also call Daniel on his mobile, 0771 238 3335.

So, as discussed yesterday, we will do the Seed Group Meeting in the Chelsea Physics Garden, as it is quite central. 3pm at the main entrance at Swan Walk – entrance fee £6. Nearest tube is Sloane Square.

I will bring my book on herbs, and probably another one on medicinal plants, and we can explore the garden at leisure.

[ Petra originally wrote this – Daniel has added Petra’s comments to the main topic, so that anyone who takes a glance will see we are now going to Chelsea, and not H.Hill as originally suggested. The original post said:
“I would like to do a seedgroup on plants again – this time hopefully better organized. My idea was to have a walk around Horsenden Hill and take a look at trees, bushes and herbs growing wild there, identifying them and maybe learning something about them.
Any thoughts and ideas to this issues are welcome.”]

Petra