Harrow on the Hill station brings you to modern Harrow at the base of the hill, with a department store and all the shops you could wish for and two undercover malls and a cinema. Exit one side of the station and you are in the modern shopping area. Exit from the other side and you have stepped back in time to historic Harrow with a view of Harrow on the Hill, topped by the church spire which you can see for miles, and from the Metropolitan line train as you approach and leave.
Harrow presents different centuries and a different atmosphere at different times of day. First are the steep streets, narrow winding uphill. The small doors and the windows looking onto the street. The historic plaques. The corner pub,called the Castle. The top is a road with Henry watching from one end, the famous school with statues in the outer walls at the other end. In between, coffee shop, restaurants and a shop selling school uniform and straw summer hats (boaters) for the boys.
I took the tour of the school some years ago, meeting Australians whose seasons are upside down to those in Harrow, so Harrow's summer is Australian winter holiday, and Harrow at Christmas is their winter holiday. This must increase the sense of time travel.
At every turn there's something new to look at. I noticed a red phone box. Next to it was a heritage plaque above a doorway.
The plaque mentions The Old Fire Station 1888-1963.
Photos by Angela Lansbury.
(I have other posts on Harrow and restaurants in Harrow here on this travel blog and reviews on TripAdvisor.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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