Two visits to Waltham Abbey

We used to visit Waltham Abbey which is a small town and the Lee Valley park quite often but seem to have neglected this for a while then went twice within a month. 

After the cruise my friend stayed for a few days so we drove there as it was such a beautiful Autumn day and walked round the Abbey ruins and into the church. We stopped off for lunch in an old pub and drove back along the valley stopping for a look along the way.  The town has connections to King Harold who founded the monastery and is reputed to be buried in the grounds of the church.

A few weeks later, my DIL's mother was visiting from Canada so on the Sunday we had another visit as it was again a beautiful day. After a wander round and hot chocolate in the tea shop, we drove on through Upshire where we were hoping to have a walk but the paths were not compatible with a push chair so we carried on to Epping Forest visitor's center. A bit of excitement was caused by a large stag running across the road in front of us while we stopped at traffic lights. I couldn't believe how busy it was as most of my trips take place mid week when it is quiet. I should have guessed that a sunny October Sunday would have brought crowds out. it was ok once we'd parked the car and walked a bit.

We have such lovely places to visit close to our homes but often these get overlooked as we travel further afield and only tend to revisit the local treasures when we have visitors.