Tranquil things to do in London's quietest boroughs
London’s quietest borough? The surprising answer, according to new research, is the home of Brick Lane and Canary Wharf: Tower Hamlets.
Average noise levels of 53.3dB were recorded in the city centre district, helping it pip Sutton (53.8dB), Waltham Forest (56.1bB), Croydon (56.5bB) and Ealing (57.3dB) to the top spot.
So where’s best to find tranquility in these five apparently muted boroughs?
Graphic: Average decibel reading across the capital
Waltham Forest
Everyone’s moving to Walthamstow, it seems. The postcode made famous by East 17 is now attracting scores of first-time buyers, with trendy restaurants like Yard Sale and Buhler and Co, green spaces like Lloyd Park, and quaint Walthamstow Village, helping lure young Londoners.
The Village is certainly one place to find tranquility. Strolling past almshouses, the timber-framed 15th-century “Ancient House”, and through the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, it is like being transported to the countryside. As is Lloyd Park, with its moat and gardens, and William Morris Gallery, which provides calming cups of tea and scones.
Or else head to Walthamstow Wetlands. Dubbed - a little ambitiously - at a nature reserve of “international importance”, it’s home to lots of geese, ducks, and other wading creatures (but also quite a lot of midges and the occasional discarded shopping trolley).
Croydon
What could be more relaxing than the sight of a slowly turning windmill. Hang on. A windmill? In London? Yes - the lovely curiosity that is Shirley Windmill dates back to 1854 (replacing an earlier structure which had been destroyed by fire). And with four sails, it is still in working order.
Tranquility can also be found on Farthing Downs, which sounds more like something from a Hardy novel than an open space within the M25. There are wildflowers and rare herbs to be found growing there, Iron Age remains, as well as grazing sheep and cattle.
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Sutton
Nonsuch Park is - just about - in Sutton, and is the last surviving remnant of one of Henry VIII’s vast deer hunting grounds. It was once home to a vast Tudor palace, draped in a riot of Renaissance decoration, and the odd name came from the claims that there was “nonesuch” place like it in all of Europe. But it was seized from the crown in 1649, demolished bit by bit, and by 1702 was no more than a ruin.
Today there’s an newer, 18th-century mansion, and the usual array of gardens, trees and meadows. Samuel Pepys once visited, calling the park “a great walk of an elme and a walnutt set one after another in order”. While riding there, his "...little dogg, as he used to do, fell a-running after a flock of sheep feeding on the common, till he was out of sight…” How’s that for tranquil.
Another great option is Mayfield Lavender Farm, where you can wander among the purple blooms and - we’d wager - pick up a scented pillow. It opens on June 1. Crop your photographs carefully, add a filter, and pretend you’re in Provence.
Or else head to Craggy Island. It sounds idyllic but has nothing to do with Father Ted, and isn’t an island. Rather, it’s an indoor climbing centre. Consider it a mindfulness activity.
Ealing
Tranquility in Ealing? But of course. The tiny Dolls House Museum is packed to the rafters with more than 300 dolls and miniature curiosities. Because what could be more relaxing than looking at little rocking chairs? Entry costs a quid and it's open on Saturdays.
Not calming enough? Then trace the meandering journey of one of London’s other rivers, the Brent. It rises in Barnet but heads in a south-west direction, wending its way through Ealing’s Pitshanger Park. Go to spot water voles and kingfishers.
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Tower Hamlets
We save the best till last. London’s quietest borough (allegedly): Tower Hamlets.
Victoria Park is one place to find peace. It has a Boating Lake, a Chinese Pagoda, an Old English Garden and a Victorian bandstand, for heaven’s sake. You’ll forget you’re in Hackney.
Calming nostalgia is also on the menu at the V&A Museum of Childhood (more so than at the famous boxing venue of York Hall, just over the road).
Walk the eerily quiet cobbled streets of Wapping, stopping for a pint at the historic Prospect of Whitby (a former haunt of Pepys and Dickens, and home to a replica gallows), or find complete silence beneath the Thames (the Greenwich foot tunnel emerges at Island Gardens, on the Isle of Dogs).
Or spend an afternoon at Trinity Buoy Wharf. This former workshop used to build buoys and other maritime accoutrements. Now it is alive with art studios and little cafes. Ponder some art and slurp a (decaf) coffee.
