Twitchers' Twittering? Truly!

Nature has a way of healing, like no other.

Encountering Cheshunt's* 428.17 acres SSSI - just 14 miles from Charing Cross - is sublime: 'Northmetpit', is not perhaps the most endearing name, however, twitchers, ramblers, fishermen, boatmen, naturalists and leisure-seekers are drawn, in droves, to Cheshunt North's hidden oases that are Lee Valley Country Park's lakes.

Damselflies, dragonflies and orchids - it even feels good to write those words having experienced the blessings of a stroll alongside the lakes and River Lee in the sunshine.

Time stood still whilst a bargeman entered Lock No 47. 'Grace' is his retirement home - a stately longboat, his castle in Cestrehunt.

*Cestrehunt was a settlement on Ermine Street, the main Roman Road leading north from London. Up until 2004, Cheshunt was home to the famous Temple Bar, moved from London at the turn of the 19th Century, but the gateway was re-installed in London at Paternoster Square on the north side of St Paul's Cathedral.