“let’s take a drive to Primrose Hill
It’s windy there, and the view’s so nice”
For Tomorrow by Blur (1993)
(details of map and books at the end of the post)
It is a short walk from our house to Primrose Hill. This is a small park, but big enough for a patch of greenery on our doorstep. It is also the northern gateway to Regent’s Park and London Zoo.
Unlike our regular Primrose Hill walks, this particular one was specifically planned to follow the pictures on some postcards by David Gentleman whose eponymous book on London has been in my library for 40 years.
The thing about artists is that they have, rightly so, artistic licence. The postcards are a good representation of the views from Primrose Hill but I had a bit of difficulty finding the exact ‘frame’. It was nevertheless a good exercise in observation and a fine reason for going for a walk.
Below I have shown the postcard inspiring the photo, and then the photo I took. The first is appropriately entitled Primrose Hill in a heat wave. The trees have grown a lot since the postcards were drawn, so some views are obscured. Never mind, you should make your way to the top of Primrose Hill as everyone agrees with Blur, that ‘the view’s so nice’.
Postcard 63/100: Primrose Hill in a heat wave
Postcard 64/100: Primrose Hill, August 2007
Postcard 65/100: [Primrose Hill, looking up]
Postcard 33/100: Distant City and Camden high-rises from Primrose Hill, 2019
Postcard 72/100: Primrose Hill Primary School, 2019 (located in Princess Road)
Postcard 82/100: Chalcot Crescent, 2019
There are 100 postcards in the box, with a few Primrose Hill scenes in the snow. At the moment, with the current heat wave, I can’t even think of what cold is like.
Following the postcards and trying to locate the real buildings/ scenes will be a good project for anyone who would like to see more of London. If you live in a different city, perhaps you can find a similar box and do the same wherever you are. One idea I had previously was to have a travel adventure with Monet’s paintings (e.g. Rouen, London, Paris, Giverny). Some years back we did exactly this with Travel Couple, looking for the scenes from the late David Hockney’s Yorkshire countryside.
Books and map:
London city map 1:10,000 by Freytag & Berndt, ISBN 978-3707924268
London Postcards by David Gentleman, published by Penguin Books Ltd, ISBN 978-0241443927
David Gentleman’s London, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 0 297 78574 5. Published in 1985, this is one of the first books I purchased upon arriving in London for my university studies (Law) at the LSE. 40 years on I still reside in London.