This picturesque south-western suburb sits along the idyllic banks of the southern reaches of the River Thames, and is mostly taken up by large green swathes of historic royal parkland. The residential part of this area is the affluent village of Hampton Wick, located in the Borough of Richmond, it is a quaint, quiet locale made up of predominantly Victorian and Edwardian houses, some of which look out onto the river’s edge. Hampton Wick station at the heart of the town runs South Western services at regular intervals to Waterloo, Wimbledon, and Richmond, and with Kingston only a short walk across the river, there is no shortage of bus routes too. While much of the area is taken up by great chunks of Bushy Park and Hampton Court Park, it is not often busy with tourists as the main entrances to these popular tourist destinations are located on the other side of the park in Hampton and Molesey. There are plenty of nearby schools, and the green space, large houses, and generally convenient transport links make this area very popular with middle-class families.

The name Hampton Wick almost certainly derived from the use of the word ‘wick’ to describe a harbour or place of trade, and this riverside locale was once used to load and unload goods for the Hampton manor which would, over time, develop into Hampton Court Palace. Once Kingston Bridge was built in 1219, the area flourished thanks to the prosperity of the nearby royal market town of Kingston, but it remained an undistinguished hamlet for many years. Nearby Bushy Park had been settled for at least 4,000 years, with archaeological records dating back to the Bronze Age, it was developed into hunting grounds by Henry VIII in the 16th century. While the park developed rapidly during Henry’s reign and that of subsequent monarchs, Hampton Wick’s change was slow, only speeding up with the industrialisation of the mid- 1800s and the opening of the railway in 1863. The village grew and by the outbreak of the Second World War most of the old cottages had been replaced by middle class housing for commuters, similar to how it remains today.

Hampton Wick’s large houses and quiet suburban setting means that it is popular with the middle class intelligentsia. One notable individual is Emery Bonett, whose real name was Felicity Winifred Carter (1906-1995), and who lived at 20 Lower Teddington Road from 1953 onwards. She is best known for mystery, suspense and detective novels such as A Girl Must Live, 1936, which was later adapted into a film starring Margaret Lockwood, and The Sound of Murder, 1967.

Another famous author who resided in the area was R.C. Sherriff (1896-1975). However, unlike Bonett, he grew up here from his birth until 1914. Locally educated at Kingston Grammar School, Sherriff is best known for his play Journey’s End, 1928, which is based on his experiences in the First World War, and whose adaptations have won many awards.

While locals report that the area is very nice to live in, they complain that the evening travel can be quite restrictive, given that the trains hardly run past 11pm, making an evening out in London a more stressful experience than it should be. That said, the town centre of Kingston is nearby, and if one has missed the last train there are a number of buses from central London that will get you home, though it will take a while.

One of the biggest changes facing Hampton Wick is the highly anticipated introduction of Crossrail 2 to Hampton Wick station and nearby Kingston station. Not only is this predicted to help with congestion on the South West Mainline, which is one of the busiest routes in the country, and which already faces capacity constraints, it will also increase the frequency and speed of trains into London Waterloo. However, similarly to the recently completed Elizabeth Line rail project, Crossrail 2 is likely to take over a decade to open, especially as plans have now been on hold since the covid pandemic.