Escorts in SW1, Westminster to Belgravia: who is close, and how soon
SW1 is the postcode of the Crown and the state, laid across the middle of London from Hyde Park Corner and Buckingham Palace, over St James's Park to Whitehall and Parliament, and south through Victoria and Pimlico to the Thames. For all its grandeur it is a fine postcode for a walk after dinner, because its two best walks are flat, short, and join one famous view to the next.
Belgravia and Pimlico are home to five names on the board, and Knightsbridge, which runs across SW1X and SW7, to three more, so escorts in SW1 seldom have far to come. Count on around an hour, starting when the office confirms, longer at the evening peak, with her exact time written into the chat; lengths are listed on the rates. Here are the two walks, as a guest and his companion might take them.
On the ground
SW1 in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameSW1X 7RL, SW1X 7TA, SW1W 0JW, SW1X 7HJ, SW1X 7LA.
Nearest stations
Walking timeVictoria, 5 minutes. Hyde Park Corner, 6 minutes. St James's Park, 6 minutes. Sloane Square, 8 minutes.
Getting there
SW1Travel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
On the board
Nearest prints to SW1
Who works here
On the board in SW1
The eight prints above are a first shortlist for SW1 tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Across St James's Park, palace to Horse Guards
Start at the Victoria Memorial, the white marble and gilt monument in front of Buckingham Palace, and go into St James's Park by the path along the lake. Halfway along, the footbridge across the water gives the best view in the postcode: turn west and the palace sits at the end of the lake between the trees; turn east and the rooftops of Whitehall rise beyond Horse Guards, with the turrets of Whitehall Court above them. The park's pelicans, here since a Russian ambassador presented the first of them in 1664, are most often seen towards the eastern end of the lake.
Leave the park at that eastern end and Horse Guards Parade opens in front of you, a great gravel ground that is empty and silent at night. From there Whitehall runs down to Parliament, where the second walk begins.
Note 03
Along the river, Parliament to Lambeth Bridge
Past the Victoria Tower, at the southern end of the Palace of Westminster, Victoria Tower Gardens run beside the Thames, a strip of lawn and plane trees between Millbank and the water. Rodin's Burghers of Calais stand at the Parliament end, and further in the Buxton Memorial Fountain, a small Gothic canopy in coloured stone, marks the abolition of slavery. Across the river, Lambeth Palace looks back at the gardens.
The walk ends on Lambeth Bridge, painted red to match the benches of the Lords, just as Westminster Bridge, by the Commons, is green like theirs. From the middle of it the whole river front of Parliament is in view. Both walks suit SW1 escorts and guests who decide over dinner, since neither needs planning; Westminster and St James's carry on the same walking ground.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for SW1
Asked most often
SW1, asked and answered
Is St James's Park open for a walk after dark?
Which way round should we take the two walks?
Why is Lambeth Bridge red?
Is there a quieter walk on the Belgravia side?
One zone either way
Next along from SW1
Knightsbridge hotels
SW1X, SW7Same ladder, same honest hour, a district partly inside this postcode.
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with a length, a time and the zone you are staying in, and a name from the board comes back with a window attached. That is the whole of the arrangement.