Richmond Mansions

I love that all of the buildings here have names. We are living in Richmond Mansions and we just moved from Aura House. So our address is our flat number and name of the building, then the road name (no building number) and post code. The post codes here (like zip codes) are neat because they are very specific - our post code only covers the 10 or so flats in our building, so if you need to look up where a building is, all you really need is that post code. 

We got in on a Saturday, and that next Monday we headed out with a realtor to look at some flats. It was really interesting to tour the flats and see how people live here. Most were quite small and squashy (I love that word - they use it a lot here) but some were bigger than we had expected flats in our budget to be. We ended up being a little farther from the train station than we'd like, but the location and flat are fantastic and we're so happy with our choice!

If you look closely, you can see a green parrot sitting on the bird feeder outside our kitchen window. There are about 8 parrots(! of all the types of birds I did not expect).

  

The kitchen. Not awesome pictures, but there you go.

 

The dining room. 

It's the central room in the house that you first walk into and all of the rooms come off of this one.

 The ancestors. 

This is the great great grandfather and great great great grandmother of the fellow who owns the flat. The great great grandfather actually invented this stove:

 

 The poem that runs around the top of the room is The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot

The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.

 The barometer and answer-phone by the front door. We have to ring in anyone who comes to the flat and that screen is a video screen to see whoever is calling.

Rob's office/Benji's room. 

The view is beautiful out into a really lush garden area! The neighbors have a huge garden beyond ours to look into that makes our flat really private.

Our front door

The living room

  

The girls' bathroom. Those are bare bums in the picture and the title of it is "The Royal Ascot" :)

The building. I do have to hike the buggy up a few stairs to get in.

We live literally (here they say it lit-rally) on the banks of the Thames. There is a footpath that runs along it that we walk to get into town every day. It is so beautiful and I can't wait until Spring when it's in bloom!

  Here's the dining room in use. I was feeling brave and made an English dish called Toad-in-the-Hole. Despite the sound of it, it was actually really good! It's yorkshire pudding with sausages and onions in it.