Basic HTML Version
20
City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
(known by both Dick Turpin and Winston Churchill!) for
a carvery lunch after a morning dedicated to exploring the
new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
We’ll quarter the Stratford site using the brand new roads
to give you a good look at progress on the Stadium end of
the park before setting down to walk inside the first part
of the North Park to open. Landscaped parklands are laid
out on either side of the River Lea: this is where the big
screen was erected mid-river for the Olympic crowds.
A footbridge from Games time has been left in situ – this
is where athletes from all the competing nations entered
the park from the Olympic Village which is now being
transformed into East Village, a new neighbourhood for
3000 people with homes, offices and a school. Is it worth
coming now before all of the park and any of venues open?
All I can tell you is that I have worked intimately with the
London 2012 project since 2008 - in the run up to the
Games our guides took 100,000 visitors to see the area.
During the Olympic and Paralympic Games I attended
events on a bumper thirteen days including incredibly
exciting highlights like Usain Bolt winning the Men’s 100
metres and Mo Farah winning the 5000 metres. I sat with
the crowds by the River Lea watching live feeds from all
over Olympic UK on the big screens. But still on the day
Dr Kettle and I had a peek inside the first part of the
Olympic Park due to open as part of the Olympic Legacy
I woohooed! So yes, in my opinion it is very worthwhile
coming to sample the first part of the Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park. Imagine if you could have been a fly on the
wall when they were building Hyde Park!
East London’s Artistic & Olympic Legacy
The Olympic Park & The William Morris Gallery
From 27 July 2013 the first part of the new Queen
Elizabeth Olympic Park opens. It’s part of North Park,
a pleasant landscaped area around the River Lea book
ended by the beautiful outline of the Olympic Velodrome
and the more prosaic shape of the less prestigious
Olympic venue that became known as The Copper Box.
Our new day
East London’s Artistic & Olympic Legacy
pairs a walk in the North Park and a peek at progress on
the South Park which houses the Olympic Stadium and
Aquatics Centre (which won’t be opened until Easter
2014) with a visit to the award winning William Morris
Gallery in the company of an award winning guide.
The gallery is enjoying a splurge of popularity in the
wake of its prestigious prize so it really is best to avoid
weekends and an afternoon visit helps avoid the school
groups. The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park when it is
all up and running is a huge area so it’s quite a practical
answer to come and see the first bit first, as it were.
Pace yourselves. You can always return next year to visit
the South Park when options like a canal cruise around
the perimeter of the Olympic Stadium become available.
Neither Walthamstow nor the Queen Elizabeth Park are
yet geared up to offer enough provision for coach parties
to free range for lunch so we offer our full day guided tour
with morning coffee and a cracking carvery lunch
all included for £19.95 per person based on the usual
minimum of 35 people.
Come and meet the tour guide at Snaresbrook on the edge
of the Epping Forest for morning coffee and biscuits at
10.30am. We’ll be returning to this old coaching inn