News: Ewell Is Moving....

(if only as far as Surrey Police are concerned)

"THE redrawing of Surrey’s police divisions is due to take effect from next Tuesday, resulting in the loss of some back office posts but with bosses insisting that no frontline jobs will be cut.

[...]

"Epsom and Ewell is moving from North to East Surrey, joining Reigate and Banstead, Mole Valley and Tandridge."

Full story: Surrey Advertiser, 26th March 2008

News: Ewell Bookies Hit By Serial Armed Robbers

"Detectives are investigating a series of armed robberies on bookies.

"In the latest incident two robbers brandishing black handguns burst into a Ewell betting shop on Sunday.

"They ordered staff at Coral Bookmakers in Chessington Road to open the door to the counter area and then get on the floor."

Full story: Wimbledon Guardian, 27th March 2008

Nonsuch: Sorted

The BBC News web site reports that the grant of a new 125-year lease on Nonsuch Park/Mansion to Sutton Council and Epsom and Ewell Council has now been approved.

And about time too...

Nonsuch: Final Decision Imminent?

It looks like the argument over who should run Nonsuch Park is, finally, drawing to a close -- well, unless Surrey County Council throw yet another spanner in the works.

For those of you who haven't been watching with steadily-rising levels of Bemusement, Nonsuch Park's management (including that of the mansion house within the park) has, for many years, been down to the Joint Management Committee; as the name implies, this is a joint venture between Sutton Council and Epsom and Ewell Council (the park lies on the boundary between the two boroughs). However, Surrey County Council is the holder of the deeds of the land, and a couple of years back they decided to "get involved" in the park's management. So far, this has involved refusing a lease to the company chosen by the Joint Management Committee to take over catering and other activities at the mansion, and threats of selling off the mansion itself and building a new museum. The closure of the catering facilities (other than the outside cafe) at the mansion, while its future was decided, also made a big difference to its budget.

(While a new museum may not sound like a reason to be up in arms, the County Council rather glossed over the fact that there is already a very good museum at the mansion, run by the Friends of Nonsuch.)

The suggestions by the County Council went down among the area's residents, and the Park's users, like the proverbial lead balloon. Petitions were organised (for instance by the Save Nonsuch campaign). Local MPs spoke out against the plans, Sutton's Paul Burstow and Epsom and Ewell's Chris Grayling both condemning the high-handed attitude taken by Surrey CC.

Bemused and family -- who like Nonsuch Park just the way it is, thank you very much -- look forward to confirmation of a final resolution.

A New Pleasure?

As mentioned here, The White Rose has gone; long live Dhansiri. It's still an Indian restaurant -- thankfully not Yet Another Italian -- and the menu (at first glance) looks broadly similar to the White Rose, but we will have to give it a go and see how it shapes up...

(Dhansiri, 1 Cheam Road, Ewell)

Boxes at Homebase

I don't think it's really worth giving you a full run-down of Homebase in Ewell. It's much like most of the rest of the Homebases out there -- good if you don't want anything too unusual, stock control horrible, fairly long queues on a Bank Holiday...

They did make a good impression when we popped in there earlier on today, though. In an effort to reduce the number of carrier bags they're giving out, they now have an area behind the tills which has cardboard boxes for the taking. I realise this isn't a new idea -- supermarkets used to do much the same, though I've not noticed them doing it lately -- but there are so many things you might buy from Homebase that would work much better in a box than in a carrier bag (e.g. china). It must make life easier (and cheaper?) for them to not have to recycle/dump so many boxes, too.

News: England debutant Hodgson goes back to school

The Rugby Football Union today report on a visit to Glyn Technology School by Paul Hodgson, formerly Glyn head boy and now England rugby international -- and still Ewell resident...

Down On The Farm

It's no secret that Bemused is a big fan of fluffy animals (see previous wildlife writeups). However, there are no children in the Bemused household, and thus we had lacked an excuse to go and visit Horton Park Children's Farm until this Sunday just past, when we were entertaining friends and their offspring. (Yes, possibly one could visit without children in tow -- but I suspect they might look at you a little strangely. Perhaps elderly relatives would do instead of children, at a pinch.)

Getting out of the house on a damp Sunday morning seemed like a good plan. Horton Park is just flirting with the boundary between Ewell and Chessington, and the Farm itself is well-signposted, even if a fair amount of new building in the area means that the roads no longer bear a lot of resemblance to the map we were using. We arrived, paid our fees, bought some animal food and wandered on through to see what was looking cute...

Just kidding

Horton Park boasts some of the world's most chilled rabbits. Even those currently resident at Bobtails are not this laid-back. You can get into the runs with some of them and make friends, and they seemed perfectly relaxed about being petted by a three-year-old. (She was treating the rabbits very, very carefully, as though they were made of bone china rather than flesh and fur. I approved.)

A pen marked "Incubating Eggs" proved to have moved a little further beyond that and to have chicks in it (one was just being removed to be the guest of honour at a birthday party being held in the play area, when we saw them). In other barns, there were very rambunctious kids of the goat variety (sadly the one who kept jumping on his mother's back absolutely refused to do so long enough for a photo), alpacas, a llama who reportedly enjoys polos, very noisy sheep, a couple of rather shaggy donkeys, and some damp-looking ducks. (Even damper than ducks usually look, that is.)

Demanding Polos with menaces

One should, perhaps, note that the "Mouse House" not only contains mice and hamsters but also some reptiles. I giggled as I watched a father trying to work out how to explain to his young son that the thing protruding from the snake's mouth was in fact a mouse it had been fed for dinner (I'm sure the mice couldn't see into the snake's enclosure... that really could be considered a bit cruel).

A quick run through the playground finished off the morning before we headed back for lunch. The three-year-old didn't want to leave, the ten-year-old seemed to enjoy it, and the four adults were also amused, so I think we'd have to count it a success.

We took around an hour and a half to look round; on a less rainy day that could probably have been extended quite a bit. There's also an option for the kids to go into the PlayBarn, which is a bigger indoor play area with ladders, slides, ball pits and the like -- we didn't really have time for that.

Entry (as at 16th March 2008) is £5.95 for each child and £1.50 for an adult accompanying a child (£5.95 for additional adults, so it cost us £26.80 altogether). The Farm is open from 10am - 5pm during the winter months, 10am - 6pm during the summer months, and they're open every day except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Horton Park Children's Farm, Horton Lane, Epsom, KT19 8PT; 01372 743984; http://www.hortonpark.co.uk/

Dragon Den Chinese Restaurant

It was Ma and Pa Bemused who first introduced us to Dragon Den, many years ago, when they lived in this area, and it has been a favourite of ours ever since. Since they introduced an all-you-can-eat menu on Sundays through to Thursdays, we've been even more regular visitors. Then, this week, they have started serving a lunchtime takeaway menu as well...

The food is always freshly cooked and tasty, and the staff friendly (especially the maitre d', Genesis, who is also an accomplished magician).

From the all-you-can-eat menu, we love the deep-fried aubergine, the sea-spicy pork and the tofu in black pepper sauce. If you're ordering from the a la carte menu, give the fillet steak in black pepper sauce a try, or the Dragon Den fish for a special occasion. While the crab in black bean sauce is tasty, it's also a recipe for covering yourself head to foot in black bean sauce -- at least it is if you're as clumsy as we are. The only very slight downcheck is that one tends not to get quite enough pancakes to go with crispy duck, but the staff are always happy to bring more if required.

Dragon Den have occasional special events, too; the last one was a special meal for Chinese New Year back in early February, which featured a lion dance:




The all-you-can-eat meals are (currently: March 2008) £15.90/head for adults or £8.50/head for children in the evenings, and £13.80/head for adults or £6.00. The lunchtime take-away menu, a choice of about ten dishes, is £3.95.

(Dragon Den Chinese Restaurant, 56-58 High St, 8393 3959.)

What's In A Name...

I have been asked why I don't have a snappy, punnish title for this blog, such as Ewell Log (or, worse, Ewell Blog), or Ewell Tidings. Mostly that's because, in the Bemused household, it is Mr Bemused who is in charge of bad puns (while I am in charge of throwing things at him when they get too much).

My occasional correspondent and general inspiration, the Greenwich Phantom, did suggest that perhaps I should be Ewell Ectoplasm, but there are two problems with that: one, nobody can spell Ectoplasm, and two, anyone who has seen Ghostbusters will know that ectoplasm is depicted as looking suspiciously like, well, snot. Thanks, but no thanks.

Belle De Ewell? Possibly not. Village Vixen? May give the wrong impression, I feel.

No, Bemused Of Ewell I shall remain, for the moment at least...

Who Was Gertrude Longhurst?

In the centre of Ewell, next to Party Affairs and opposite Eastons the estate agents, is a little garden with couple of benches and a few flower beds, currently planted with some rather fetching blue pansies. A plaque in the centre of the main bed proclaims it to be the Gertrude Longhurst Memorial Garden, dating from 1954.

But who was Gertrude Longhurst? Well, a little digging has revealed that she was married to Stanley Longhurst at the time of her death in February 1954 -- and Bemused is wondering whether they were perhaps part of, or involved with, Longhurst's funeral directors, also local. Bemused will keep digging... (and will post a photo at some point)

News: The Clocks

Well, I say "news", but that may be pushing it a bit. There is a profile of the band the Clocks in today's Guardian, which highlights the fact they're from Ewell -- and makes some slightly disparaging remarks about the place. (But I never knew that Petula Clark was born here! My day is complete and it's only just past 8am...)

Bobtails

You wouldn't necessarily expect a quiet residential street in Ewell to be home to more than 130 rabbits, but it's true; Bobtails Rabbit and Guinea Pig Rescue are based in Arundel Avenue.

Bobtails take in and care for abandoned and unwanted rabbits and guinea pigs, with a view to rehoming them where possible. They also provide a "dating service" -- if your rabbit is lonely and looking for company, they'll match them up with one of their rabbits and make sure that the pair get on! (Bunny small-ads, I can see it now. "Good sense of humour required. Must like carrots and have all own fur.")

The rescue centre is open most Sundays (best to call first if you're coming any distance) and they're always happy to receive your donations. Among the things they cheerfully accept are old towels, old phone books -- the rabbits like to play with them -- and shredded paper; some of their resident rabbits are actually allergic to hay, and therefore need other bedding...

Their website can be found at www.bobtailsrescue.org.uk. I note that they're having a Fun Day on 18th May 2008 to raise funds for the centre; I'll try to remind you all about that nearer the time...

(Bobtails Rabbit & Guinea Pig Rescue, 44 Arundel Avenue, East Ewell; 020 8393 2016.)

Links

[Last update: 4th March 2008.]

By no means should you consider this as a complete list of links relating to Ewell -- but here are a few to get you started.

Government, Council and Educational Services

• Epsom and Ewell Borough Council
  
• Bourne Hall
  
• NESCOT (North East Surrey College of Technology)

Leisure

• Birding in Nonsuch Park
  
• Epsom & Ewell History & Archaeology Society
  
• The page about Ewell at Exploring Surrey's Past
  
• Epsom & Ewell Football Club

Businesses

• Ewell Books
  
• Dragon Den Chinese Restaurant

Other Services

• Bobtails Rabbit And Guinea Pig Rescue

Random

• Epsom Snippets

If you want to tell me about other links I should be adding here -- with the proviso that they'll be added or not completely at my whim! -- then please do feel free to mail contact@ewellvillage.co.uk.

Indian restaurants

While wandering into Ewell at lunchtime on Friday, I noticed that the White Rose Indian restaurant was "closed for refurbishment." How true this is I wouldn't like to guess, but it has been my impression that it was struggling at least for the last few months; starting to close one day a week, running increasingly-desperate-sounding promotions, and so on.

I'm not really surprised. I've been into the White Rose -- though not especially recently -- and we just weren't very impressed; the food was adequate, but really nothing special. There was certainly better food to be had from some of the local take-aways, and more recently also from Paprika, just across the road. I find Paprika's food a lot more interesting than what was on offer at the White Rose. Paprika is also a nicer environment; the White Rose is -- or, perhaps, was -- an Indian restaurant of the "old school", with velvet-covered benches and flock wallpaper, whereas Paprika is brighter and with more modern decor.

We shall see if the White Rose reopens under this management, new management, or as something else altogether -- although, please, not another Italian restaurant! I think four of them in a village the size of Ewell is plenty.

(White Rose, 1 Cheam Road, Ewell; Paprika, 52 High St, Ewell)