From Holst to Hollyhocks: A Riverside Ramble Through West London’s Living Layers
Part of the AoU's Summer of Walking programme, taking place in West London
The AoU's Summer of Walking, part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, is a programme of tours curated and led by our members, bringing together urbanists across the UK to explore interesting, alternative, or just plain great urbanism by foot. Click here to see other tours taking place this summer.
Keep an eye on the AoU newsletter, where more tours will be announced and reminders sent out.
Date: Sunday 7 September 2025
Time: 10:30 - 14:30 (option to stay on for lunch)
Location: Barnes, London
Curated by: Charles Campion*
Distance (approx): 5 miles
Duration (approx): 4 hours
Please check your booking confirmation for info about the meeting point for this tour.
About the tour
Join us for a richly layered urbanism walk tracing the Thames from Mortlake and Barnes to Chiswick via Hammersmith Bridge, exploring the interplay of history, ecology, and community along one of London’s most characterful riverside stretches. Arriving at Mortlake Station, the walk begins with an insight into the newly approved £1.3bn Stag Brewery development, before threading through the historic village fabric led by the Mortlake History Society. Then along the river past dwellings of historic figures such John Dee, Archbishop of Canterbury, Oliver Cromwell and Gustav Holst’s house to thriving Barnes village and the story of exemplary community participation with the Barnes Town Team (finalist in the Great Street Award), with a guided detour into Barnes Common and the London Wetland Centre — together a rare urban oasis of acid grassland, biodiversity and urban water management innovation.
The walk continues along the river past the former Harrods Depository and looking across to a range of notable riverside developments on the Fulham bank before crossing the iconic and now car traffic free Grade 2* listed Hammersmith Bridge (London’s first new active travel bridge for 25 years). The route will then trace the river along Chiswick Mall, where centuries-old dwellings face tidal waters, with a chance to pop into William Morris’s former house (now a museum). The walk winds through Chiswick characterful backlands and culminates at the 5th birthday celebration of Chiswick Flower Market on the Chiswick High Road. The market is an inspiring example of locally led placemaking and post-pandemic revival attracting thousands of visitors, now in Time Out’s top 10 of things to do in London on a Sunday. There will be a chance to meet market founder Ollie Saunders before enjoying a late lunch with the group. Turnham Green tube and Gunnersbury Station are nearby.
Expect insights into riverside planning, heritage and conservation, mobility infrastructure, and how layered urban narratives shape resilient and beloved neighbourhoods still thriving after all these years.
*The walk will be supported by Barnes and Mortlake History Society, Barnes Community Association, Barnes Common CIC, London Wetland Centre, William Morris Society, and Nova Thompson.
About Charles
Charles Campion leads JTP’s dedicated community planning team, managing and facilitating co-design processes on a wide range of projects around the UK and internationally. Charles’ book entitled ’20/20 Visions: Collaborative Planning and Placemaking’, published by RIBA Publishing includes 20 case showcasing how communities can play crucial roles in shaping their places. In 2009, he travelled to San Diego with his long-time colleague and AoU founder chair John Thompson to accept the International Association of Public Participation Project of the Year Award 2009 for Scarborough Renaissance.
Important in Charles’ career development has been his work as a local resident with the Barnes Community Association Town Team running two co-design processes – The Big Barnes Ponder in 2013 and Barnes Ponder 2 in 2023. These events and subsequent Town Team led initiatives with local partners have delivered a range of projects and helped to bring about the renaissance of Barnes, more than doubling footfall in the high street and bringing back real vibrancy to the village on the river. In Spring 2025, he was asked to lead the Mortlake Mash-up community workshop to co-create a new community led Vision for Mortlake.
Charles has been an active AoU Academician for 20 years and was at the first workshop at RIBA in 2005 where the initial ideas for the Academy were brainstormed and formulated.
Please note: All refreshments are provided at your own expense unless otherwise stated. Thumbnail photo by Paul Bryan on Unsplash.
