Ruislip: What is it good for ......?

Anyone has attended a recent Wests would have heard me proselytising the virtues of Ruislip,
a Domesday Book village, way out on the combined Metropolitan* & Piccadilly lines, and due to a further three of its suburbs, the Central Line.
A long, (but slowly dying) High Street, leads from the station,
(unlike the brick masterpieces of Rayners Lane or Eastcote, Ruislip Station resembles the quintessential Hornby model railway station), carefully situated to avoid the smoke, cinders and noise of the first Underground Steam trains of 1904, to the Manor Farm site,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_Farm,_Ruislip

https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/mfaudio

where this weekend, (I know I should have got this up earlier), 15-16 September LB Hillingdon is presenting a History Weekend;

http://www.hillingdontheatres.uk/index.php/events/manor-farm-history-weekend/

The original Manor Farm House was renovated with Heritage Lottery Fund money in 2007.
Behind some Georgian wood panelling they found some wallpaper,
https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/mfwallpaper
http://www.hillingdontheatres.uk/index.php/events/a-journey-between-cultures-manor-farms-wallpaper/

Not just any old wallpaper, but the oldest in-situ wallpaper yet found in London, and in good enough condition to be matched to catalogues held by the V&A to track down the manufacturer!

Manor Farm will also be free to visit during the Open House weekend, 22-23 September.

(*Running the 'new' S8 Bombardier air conditioned, thru-aisle trains that allow 700c wheeled bikes out of Peak Times
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_S7_and_S8_Stock

Grew up in Ruislip. Full of twats.

Boris Johnson is the MP

Saying that we used to go on school trips to the motte-and-bailey castle and we'd hold scout jumble sales in the Great Barn, so not all bad.

Sad times post-college, commuting by bike from Harlington to Budgen's warehouse in South Ruislip, picking/packing. 6am start, 1 pm finish, wall-to-wall racist scumbags. After work I'd cycle around the job centres of north-west London (and bag the tube station architecture at the same time). Great tiemsz. What? No YOU kids get off my lawn.

The gerrymandered constituency is Uxbridge & South Ruislip, crossing the (A40) boundary that formerly separated Ruislip & Northwood UDC from Uxbridge UDC. This meant that Ruislip & Northwood, (M.P. Nick Hurd, son of Thatcher era Douglas*), was given Pinner, from Harrow by the Electoral Commission.

(* Nick Hurd is the fourth successive MP in his male line. I thought the Tories were trying to stamp out intergenerational welfare dependency).

I missed you (by a generation?). I worked on that site, when it was still Bishops, in the meat processing factory, with its entrance next to the Fire appliance repair facility.
The site is now Toolstation, Tile City, CEF & a Howdens.

http://www.ruisliponline.com/madbess/

Best woods around, great little network of streams and lake at the edge.

Ruislip is an fascinating place. Rich and full of natural and unnatural history.

@moorhen and I spend a day with @mespilus exploring the woods. He is an amazing font of local knowledge. Totally obsessed with what the area has to offer and happy to share his knowledge if you ask him nicely to guide you (and throw in a beer or two).

I'm sure he'd also agree to host a forum ride there...

Ah yeah... Stonefield Way. Weirdly, I got a short-lived horrible sales/tech job at a distributor in The Runway about five years later (post 90s recession) but NEVER walked down to the Budgens site to have a look around. South Ruislip isn't really leafy Metro-Land, is it?

You're right Betjeman's 'MetroLand' is the other arm of the Metropolitan Line, which originally was meant to extend far beyond Amersham. We took mespilus jr. to a 'Thomas the Tank Engine Day' at Verney Junction,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verney_Junction_railway_station
way out in Bucks, and sure enough it was once a station on the Metropolitan line!

At last nights Ruislip Woods Management Advisory Group meeting,
we received the news that subject to the go-ahead from Natural England,
and, separately, Historic England,
we will be coppicing some 25+ years unmanaged trees.

So what, you might ask, much of Ruislip Woods looks unmanaged to me?
Well, the Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve does have 5, 25 & 100 year management plans,
with much of the woodland being allowed to grow to maturity,
but this particular area of coppicing is linear!
We have a Scheduled Ancient Monument!
The Park (wood) Pale, an earthen bank, is at least Saxon, and in most probability,
(but yet unproven), Iron Age.
With the two permissions, Park Pale will be cleared of laurel, holly and yew,
but the root clumps left, to help bind the Pale together.

I have fond memories of Ruislip. As a U.S. citizen, I used to visit RAF West Ruislip when it still hosted the U.S. Navy and had a Naval Exchange on site. We'd wander around the sheds that housed American food and clothes and it also had the first Subway I'd ever seen. So it's certainly good for nostalgia.

For younger readers, the 'Subway' referred to above,
is not the long sandwich fastfood outlet,
but is the Underground rail system,
which, of course, in Ruislip is overground,
but not the 'London Overground'.

It is not that long ago that the USAF base between West Ruislip and Ickenham was finally redevelopped into housing.
We attended several 4th July Celebrations there.

American food and clothes

I have hazy memories from childhood of US alcohol being a local shadow currency.
Those, (by UK standards), huge glass bottles with the integral handles featured at parties run by my Father's cousin in the '60s.

Stupid Central Line branch that drunk people end up on accidentally. Into the sea with it.

Wrong! I am talking about the sandwich outlet. There was a Subway on-site, years before Subway made it to the UK high street. They were there since at least 1997 which is when I first remember going. Was a sad day when that base shut down. Many happy memories.

Into the sea with it.

It barely reaches the majesty of the Pinn Valley.

Ealing Broadway stub can do one.
Many hours spent waiting at (unmodernised) North Acton waiting for the proper train to get home.

My apologies,
just shows how little I know!

In fact, here's a photo from Flickr:

Here's the rest of the album if you're interested @mespilus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/routemaster/albums/72157604735012332

The inevitable wiki entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_West_Ruislip

You're fault for living on the 'wrong side of the tracks'. Ruislip >>>
I'll be Crossrailing the shit out of Ealing Broadway. 20min to the City ftw.

Quite a few audaxes start in Ruislip though. Pity many of the drivers around their are pricks.
Did you see the two cars smashed up near the felled trees?

Rough location?