A gorgeous new walking guide to the capital's green spaces.
A new book by David Fathers is always cause for celebration. Each of his guides features a dozen or so superbly researched walks across the capital on a given theme. What sets them apart on a crowded bookshelf is the illustrations and maps. They are gorgeous, plentiful and all drawn by the author.
His latest instalment, Green London, took two years to compile, and appears even more lush than its predecessors. In a supreme act of layout gymnastics, he and the publishers have managed to get at least one full-colour illustration on every single page — no mean feat given this is a pocket-sized guide. The result is a book that not only serves as a walking companion, but is also an exquisite object you could relish from a winter's armchair.
The book is divided into 14 walks at all compass points. We're eased in gently with a couple of routes through the central Royal Parks. Even the dedicated London explorer will learn from these. I know Regent's Park very well, but had somehow never noticed the secret of Chalbert footbridge, nor did I know that one of the park's chief landmarks was once a storage facility for barrage balloons.
Later maps tackle well-known green spaces further out, such as Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park. But you'll also find plenty of unexpected twists and turns. Who'd have thought you could do a green walk involving Millwall Dock and Mudchute, for example? The Peckham to Crystal Palace walk, meanwhile, is a masterful piece of orienteering, linking together disparate green pockets over 13km.
This is Fathers's sixth illustrated walking guide to London, but deserves to become the one he's most noted for. As Hunter Davies says in his foreword, it "should give joy to everyone who loves London". It will also delight anybody who prefers artistry and craftsmanship over stock photos and off-the-shelf maps.
Green London by David Fathers is published by Conway, an imprint of Bloomsbury.
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