Since moving to north London in 2008 I've done a lot of local exploration, mostly involving combining bus rides with walking. Around ten years ago, following the New River, I headed up Bush Hill Road from the northern end of Green Lanes. It wasn't the first time I'd walked up there - I remember going through the area some time in the 1980s, following a route in a London Transport Walks book which ended up at Forty Hall. But this time I departed slightly from the route recommended by the book and signposted as the New River Path and decided to go along Quakers Walk, a traffic-free cut-through, protected by bollards at one end. I'm glad I departed from the official route, because otherwise I would have missed an unusual sight - a Victorian water tower that had been converted into a house: The Tower.
Well, the Tower (now renamed the Water Tower) is up for sale following the death of the husband and wife who lived there for fifty years. Which means that it's now possible to see photographs of the entire building (from the road it's partially obscured by a wall) and watch a virtual tour of the building.
By the time he gets to the roof, the estate agent giving the tour sounds a little out of breath. But walking up stairs is highly recommended by doctors, so from a health point of view, this would be a good move. According to the previous owners' daughter, her mother was still using the stairs in her nineties.
