Dear Readers, when you left us yesterday I’d just been walking through the redwood and cedar trees on Canons Drive. Opposite North London Collegiate School there’s a most inviting path into the woods and, as the sun was shining (for once), off we went. Now what impressed me most is the understorey here. Just look at this sea of lesser celandine!

Not to mention the wild garlic – a couple walking ahead of us pulled up a handful, but there is certainly lots to go round.

And a few bluebells are just raising their little heads – judging by the colour, the drooping stems and the curled-back petals I’d say that, miraculously for an urban setting, these could actually be English bluebells rather than hybrid ones. Correct me if I’m wrong, lovely people! At the very least, these don’t look particularly ‘hybridish’ if there’s any such word.

What I want to know is, what is going on here that isn’t happening in other North London Woods? Is it just that people are sticking to the paths, or that it just isn’t as well used as my local woods? Bluebell Wood in Bounds Green doesn’t have a single English bluebell (as far as I’m aware) and my beloved Coldfall Wood has practically no understorey at all. Here’s a photo from today. The green that you can see is growing along the stream. It isn’t just to do with dense leaf cover either, as neither Canons Park nor Coldfall Wood are in full leaf yet.

Anyhow, back to Canons Park. The Cow Parsley is coming into flower too.

And soon we leave the wood and see another church in the distance. I do like a walk with a bit of symmetry, and after exploring St Margaret of Antioch church yesterday, we come to St Lawrence Whitchurch today.

The stone tower dates back to 1360 but the rest of the church is apparently in the Continental Baroque style (18th century), which is unusual in England. Alas, the church was closed so we couldn’t have a look. It contains the Chandos Mausoleum – the Duke of Chandos was responsible for the original estate that Canons Drive and the wood were part of, and he also ‘messed around’ with the original medieval church building. The Mausoleum was designed by Grinling Gibbons, though the architectural writer Pevsner is a bit sneery about it and thinks that it was probably knocked up by his workshop rather than the man himself. It shows the Duke as a Roman citizen, with two of his wives kneeling beside him (he was married three times in all, so I guess the third one survived him)

Furthermore, the church is home to an organ that was played by George Frederic Handel himself, who was composer-in-residence from 1717/1718. He composed a setting of the psalms known as the Chandos Anthems while he was there, living with the Duke in his stately home (demolished in 1747). I have a great love for ‘Mr Handel’ – it’s difficult to be sad when listening to all that exuberance! But I had no idea that he’d been composing away in Edgware, and playing the organ in this little church. I must go back to see what I make of the interior – it looks quite something!

And then it’s time for a wander around the graveyard, where a parakeet is stripping the cherry blossom, bless her…

There are some graves here from the 18th century…

And some more recent ones. This one tells of an entire family wiped out in a WWII air raid, with possibly just the son (who was maybe on active duty) surviving.

Such terrible stories, but it is so peaceful here. I can imagine when the roads and houses were open fields and countryside. As with so many churches, they seem to have seen it all.

And the church still has its lychgate. This is where a coffin would have waited, under cover, until the first part of the burial service had been read and it was time for the deceased to be brought into the church.

So, what an interesting walk in Edgware! London never ceases to amaze me, with its infinite variety. And all because of an article about redwood trees! You never know where a trail will lead you next.