Thamesmead East

Thamesmead East was planned in the 1960s as a town of the future on drained marshland, and the future turned out to be concrete walkways and a great deal of grass. Stanley Kubrick picked Thamesmead as the backdrop for A Clockwork Orange, and estate agents have never found a way to put that in a listing. The lakes, parks and river are closer to the front door than almost anywhere in London, though the river is also why the whole place is a flood zone kept dry by a wall. The grandest building for miles is Bazalgette's Victorian pumping station at Crossness, and it was built for sewage.