Mindfully Stylish 🌷

Old buildings, like long friendships, give us continuity with the past. Sturdy and robust with gently sloping eves and thick, strong beams, they have stood the test of time. We sit inside them and around them and make renovations, but at their core, they will always be the same. When we pass them by, they seem to say, “This is where you are, but remember ~ this is where you have been”…

March is a brown month to me. Even though we are just on the cusp of spring, sometimes I feel more dread now wandering through the frigid outskirts of London than I had done in the depths of Winter. All I can see is barren earth ~ the seeds have been sewn, but it is as though the flowers will never come. Etched into my mind were the troubles of the day, and behind me was a half-drunk non-alcoholic gin and tonic melting on a table somewhere in the pub restaurant we’d just left that I’d traded in for a glass of red wine.

Although my friends and I had enjoyed a good roast, and we’d puffed and pulled ourselves up a hill, we needed something more, and it felt like we were waiting for the day to really begin. 

Thankfully, I’d found a hideout ~ something that offered the colour we craved. If you are in the brown season of your life, I have a little friendly advice. Find the splash of something outside of yourself that brightens your day ~ in flowers, art galleries, brightly coloured clothes, makeup or jewellery ~ anything that takes you out of the chaos of your mind for a moment. For me, on this day, it was The Cockpit in Chislehurst ~ an unusual, independent micropub that serves cask ales, fine wines and ciders, with a completely carved wooden interior and dried flowers hanging from a low-hung ceiling, not to mention the florist that has taken up shop inside. 

In my humble opinion, Chislehurst is the Teddington of South East London (although further from the river), with a sleepy yet distinctly noble feel to it that charms you. Sir Francis Walsingham, principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, was born here in 1532 in a manor whose ruins now form the foundation of the popular nature reserve Scadbury Park. The town is unusual in that it has two ‘sides’ separated by the War Memorial in the middle.

Chislehurst West boasts several coffee shops and eateries, a pretty church, and a duckpond on a small common that is very often inhabited by a wide variety of birds. But it is Royal Parade that truly draws me. This is where The Cockpit and The Bull’s Head are situated, along with one of my favourite Italian restaurants, Due Amici, which I highly recommend booking in advance.

The Bull’s Head is thought to date back to 1743 and The Chislehurst Society tells us that it was once a busy coaching inn. Today, this beautiful period building hosts an extensive pub, beer garden and hotel, and the atmosphere is convivial. I often find our footsteps take us here when we are at a loose end.

As we left The Cockpit for a final glass, I stepped outside for a cigarette and let the others go on ahead. I stood in momentary, almost total silence. “Thank you,” I breathed and meant it. Catching the smell of woodsmoke on the cold March wind, I thought, “This is the stuff of life,” and walked up the street to join my friends…

Some other places we hope to visit in the near future include Chislehurst Caves ~ a network of man-made caverns created by mining flint and lime-burning chalk that have quite an astonishing history ~ and the William Willett Memorial, preserved by the National Trust. If you are struggling to find the joy today, I find a change of scene is often the gentlest way…

In Love&Light, FS XOX