Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Not too bad this week , some huge giveaway clues and back in the day, the Eastender Himself trained for his PPL in this neck of the woods, so knows it well. Near as I can figure it, the most likely answers, seem to me to be:

Q1. Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve

Q2, Merchant Taylors' School

(NB for question 1, I found references which give the size of Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve as varying between 726 and 755 acres so 731 is in the right ballpark for this to be a candidate. I found several sources which say the four woods which make up the nature reserve, have a total area of 295 hectares, which is around 731 acres )

From the initial clues given, the first station the author is describing, is most likely to be Ruislip Gardens. According to some of the references I checked, this did have what were described as 'winged' canopies and John Betjeman wrote a poem about it (Middlesex c1954) which is where the references to 'red trains' and 'Elysium' come from. I found five stations in the town with the name Ruislip in them, some of them are shared between mainline rail and the tube (West Ruislip, Ruislip, Ruislip Manor, Ruislip Gardens and South Ruislip) An extract from the Betjeman poem 'Middlesex' is below:

Gaily into Ruislip Gardens

Runs the red electric train

With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's

Daintily alights Elaine;

Hurries down the concrete station

With a frown of concentration

Out into the outskirt's edges

Where a few surviving hedges

Keep alive our lost Elysium

Rural Middlesex again

An airfield which lies to the south of Ruislip Gardens station, is RAF Northolt and according to some of the sources I checked, this seems to have been first used by the RFC c1915 and was one of the first aerodromes to receive the Hurricane fighters. The men of letters founded in 1882 refers to the APOC (Army Post Office Corp) and the British Forces Post Office has headquarters at Northolt.

The puzzle author most likely alights from the train at West Ruislip station and a short distance to the north, lies Ruislip Wood National Nature Reserve (I found references for the size of this ranging from 726 to 755 acres). Ruislip wood nature reserve, contains a 'Great Barn' which was built c1280 and is said to be around 40 metres long (greater than 100 feet). Ruislip Lido apparently started life as a canal resevoir (c1811) before becoming a leisure facility c1933. The sources I checked confirm that it does indeed have a beach and a miniature railway and that several films were shot there, including 'A Night to Remember' c1958 (about the Titanic in 1912), the 'Young Ones' with Cliff Richard and possibly a comedy film called 'What a Whopper' in the 1960s. I found a reference which says the Lido closed c1990 and was demolished c1998.

North of the Lido, lies the town of Northwood and this is the postal area of a school called Merchant Taylors' School. It seems to be located in a place called Three Rivers, Sandy Lodge, Hertfordshire which is on the north side of the town.This school was originally in the city of London and was founded c1561. There is also said to be an art nouveau style church in Northwood but seems to have been converted to a library at some point. A former pupil of Merchant Taylors' school was one William Henry Pratt aka Boris Karloff (b 1887), who played the 'Frankenstein' monster in a film of the same name c1931.

Link to the competition:

Sunday Times Where Was I?