The South Of Kingston upon Thames

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is long and skinny with most of the population, including Kingston itself, in the North of the borough. And as you travel south and the width of the borough steadily narrows with its contents the definition of middle class suburbia. The A3 is then crossed, on its way to Portsmouth, with the A3 also being roughly the boundary of the borough in the northeast. Keep going south and with the A3 now forming the western boundary of the borough you approach Chessington, with yet more houses. After Chessington's two stations, aptly named Chessington North and Chessington South, the train line terminates (a small spur of track continues and it was originally planned for this line to go to Leatherhead) which marks the end of suburbia. After you leave the last part of Chessington, with the borough still narrowing, you approach Chessington World of Adventures and this road you're on, the A243, continues to the village of Malden Rushett. We're still in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the A243 still continues south to the southern border of the borough, and Greater London, at The Star pub and a pair of bus stops.

Personally I really love locations and areas that look nothing like London but are in fact totally in London. With the residents in these abodes, mostly farms and the occasional village, having exactly the same right to vote in London elections for the Mayor of London. These locations also have other London resident benefits like zip cards and the over 60s oyster card. These places are often hard to get to, especially on public transport, with them usually being the only places in London more than 400m away from a bus stop.

The fields used for farming in the south of Kingston upon Thames are bisected by the aforementioned A243 which is served by the 465 bus on its way, all the way, to the southernmost London bus stop near its terminus in Dorking. This bisected farmland is further bisected in the east west direction by another road which, if you go down it, could be any rural road in the country with only a small welcome to Kingston sign being the only indication that you've made it into the capital of the UK home to all of London's great landmarks. And as quickly as you enter London your back out again into deepest darkest Surrey. These fields in London are owned by farmers with various different crops throughout the year and they contain a few public rights of way.

Included in these fields is an airstrip, grass but plenty big enough for general aviation. How much use this airstrip has is not well known but the grass is usually mowed. Rushett Farm airfield is apparently home to a few planes and is, like the rest of this strange area, much better suited to the home counties.