People often forget how many lovely parks and open spaces London has, even away from the centre.

Wanstead Park happens to be down the road from me and it has lovely bluebell woods.

Its also pretty clear on the bluebell code to protect the species.

Which I think is a good thing.

A little haven between the roar of the North Circular and the A102M.

The sun came out today and the weather was glorious.

So I went for a walk round near where I live.

I always forget what a leafy part of London it is.

En route I passed the two parish churches.

The one on the left is St Mary's built in 1787 to a classical design by Thomas Hardwick. It is grade 1 listed an has a virtually unaltered interior it is close to the site of the medieval parish church which was demolished.

The one on the right is Christ Church built after Wanstead became popular in the mid Victorian era with the building of what is now the Epping branch of the central line. The church was designed by George Gilbert Scott in the gothic style. It was built and expanded over the period 1860-1889.

I love church architecture, but I have yet to go inside either of these lovely buildings.