Post Box Topper Summer Flowers in Stanmore

 Post box topper in Pangbourne Drive, Stanmore, Middx, North West  London.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I have other posts on postbox toppers in London and worldwide. You can see more in Wikipedia and on Facebook.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Pillar box topper, yarn bombing and spinning a yarn

 

Pillar box topper. Long Elmes, Harrow. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Seasonal events celebrated through the year include 

Valentine's Day (hearts), 

Easter (rabbits), 

Armistice Day (toy soldiers and members of the armed forces and crosses), 

Halloween (spiders and pumpkins) and 

Christmas (Santas).

For more see my previous posts, and the Facebook group page.

In the UK we refer to post boxes. Pillar boxes are the free standing cylindrical ones.

USA

In the USA the term used is mail box. You can buy or make covers for home mail boxes.

Yarn bombing of trees and city architecture has been popular in the USA, in Houston and other cities.

UK

You could join a Women's Institute group to make these seasonal items. Buy a pattern online. 

Home Decor

Or make a tiny one for outside a dolls' house. You could use a Champagne bottle cork, painted with red paint. 

Or a tiny one of painted pastry for the top of a birthday cake,. Or a Christmas cake or other seasonal cake.

From a photo taken from a bus of a pillar box topper in Long Elmes, I went on a journey around the internet, seeing yarn decorating trees and covering entire buildings, in Spain and other countries around the world. Yes, covering entire buildings.

I am not 'spinning a yarn'. The phrase spinning a yarn is thought to come from spinning ropes at sea, and telling tales, long stories, often far-fetched, fictional, to while away the time.

Useful Websites on Pillar Box Toppers.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/876920579707070/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_bombing

https://weavesandknits.com/a-gallery-of-famous-examples-of-yarn-bombing-from-around-the-world/

https://grammarist.com/idiom/spin-a-yarn/

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Post Box Toppers - Mail box topper Halloween pumpkin

 

Post box in north west London. Yarn topper. Pumpkin. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

This post box  was in Long Elmes by the H14 bus stop to Harrow. September 27th 2025.

Post box toppers have been around since 2012. 

I have several more pictures of toppers on this post box and others in London. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Mail box topper in London

 Snowy scene on top of a mail box.This one has three little snow white characters with hats and neckties, and a green tree.The colours are red, white, green, black and yellow.

In Cortenay Avenue, on the H14 bus to Northwick Park Hospital from or to Hatch End.

Useful Websites

Wiki post box toppers (American mail box toppers)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

TFL (Transport for London) H14 bus route

https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/h14/

TravelwithAngelaLansbury.blogspot.com

Posts with pictures showing mail box toppers.

Xmas tree, snowman and Santa socks: knitted topping decorating Post Box in London

Snow Scene Decorating Mail Box, Royston Grove, off The Avenue, Hatch End, Pinner, North West London. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Notice the amount of detail in the knitting or crochet work. Numerous little colourful hanging socks. The trees. The snowman. The two big red boots with white tops.

When we passed about 7 pm the lights on the Xmas tree were lit. I took this picture on our return journey after 11 pm when the lights were off.

So if you enjoy seeing it in daylight, or late at night, go back to see it again when the little lights are glowing. 

How do they get it to light up? I wonder if it is batter operated, or using sunlight in daytime to generate power.

Photographic Records

I have taken photos and written posts about the ones I have seen previously. The terms for these items include yarn bombers, yarn fairies, yarn toppers, according to the Wikipedia article. Wikipedia has pictures of the previous seasonal events commemorated, regional ones with the words Covent Garden, and Oxford. 

Sometimes there are no toppers between national and seasonal events. Just when you feel disappointed that there's nothing to see, along comes another delightful photo opportunity. Maybe it's time for the museum of London and other venues to devote a room to them, at least to pictures of lights and decorations around London for major events.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Post_box_toppers_in_England

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Hat on a mail box (also known as a post box topper). Love it? DIY!

They are all over London, postbox toppers. If you want to make your own, you can find instructions from the Townwomen's Guild. A bit of fun. Harmless fun. You make the base to the size of the round or oval postbox. Then add the toppings. Topical toppings, seasonal toppings, whatever. I would add flowers for spring, and a squirrel with nuts for autumn, or autumn leaves, snow and red santas or santa and sleigh, or a reindeer, or reindeer pulling a sleigh, or even a ski slope with pine trees, in winter. Cakes in the supermarket or a book on cake decorating could give you ideas, or just copy the local scenery. Pick something traditional in your area to match a traditional box. Americans with private mail boxes at the ends of their driveways could copy this idea.https://www.the-tg.com/thingstodo/postbox-toppers/50.aspxHat on a mail box. Long Elmes road. Harrow. London. England. UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury.You can see this on the bus route from hatch End to harrow and Northwick Park Hospital, on the H14 bus. These hats decorate the mail boxes all over this part of London.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper