In April 2014, I had the chance to go on an extended visit to England. My sister lives on the Wirral Peninsula, just across the Mersey from Liverpool. However, if you cross to the other side of the peninsula, you will find yourself gazing across the River Dee at the Welsh hills.
Wales, being on the western side of the British Isles, is known for being rainy. And April is usually replete from rain. However, my photographs from the time tell me that we enjoyed a spell of wonderful weather that April, the sun making the flowers shine.
After spending about three weeks with my sister, I went down to the south of England. My sister and I hail from Surrey, now within the stockbroker’s belt. Whenever I visit I try to make time to wander around my old haunts. And so, I spent a day visiting Esher, a charming Georgian village located on the Portsmouth Road.
I remember Esher well as it was the largest town nearest to that four-square house where we lived during my formative years. My reconstituted family—Maternal grandmother, mother, sister, myself, and my mother’s newish boyfriend—settled into a housing estate near the Scilly Isles roundabout, that was not far from the Marquis of Granby pub.
To get to Esher, I had to walk along the only road out of the housing estate onto an incredibly busy road. Then I had to negotiate that roundabout, crossing roads and dodging traffic, until I found myself walking into Esher with the Sandown Race Course to my right.
Esher possessed a Public Library, which I was fond of visiting. It also had a “parade of shops” as they say in Britain, plus a post office. It was the sort of place where you could do all of your errands in one go.
Esher also possessed two churches. There was an old-fashioned wooden one, just to my left just before I arrived at the library. Then there was the tall-steepled Victorian one. The Victorian church was situated in the middle of the village green, while the older one was off to the side, and partly hidden. But it was this church that the locals were most proud of because, according to local legend, it was where Henry VIII met Anne Boleyn.
If you want to visit Esher, it is an easy train ride from London. Just find your way to Waterloo and take the Guildford line into Surrey. With its chic restaurants and pubs, as well as opportunities for shopping, it makes for a very pleasant day out.
