The Hill (aka Henman Hill)

Nowadays known as “Murray Mount”, The Hill is the best place to watch the big Wimbledon games if you don’t have centre court tickets. I spent the vast majority of my times with mates on the Hill yesterday watching the Men’s quarter finals.

At capacity, the Hill can hold about 4,000 people, but to be honest, only about 2,500 of those people will have a decent view of the screen, so it’s best to get there early! Fans picnic, guzzle Pimms and generally have a ruddy good time watching the tennis.

As with the Queue, here is my guide to Henman Hill, Murray Mount or whatever it is called these days! -

A guide to the Hill

- Buy a ground pass. They are between £10 and £20 and are easy to come by in Week 1 of the Championships. Week 2 becomes more difficult and you can expect to queue for +4 hours for access to the hill.

- Get to the hill EARLY. They open it up around 10.30am. I would recommend going straight there.

- Bring a blanket. Spreading a blanket and marking your territory is great way of shotgunning spots for your mates (Fellow fans are unlikely to sprawl across your blanket but will have no problem nestling in next to you on the grass)

- If you are in a group of 3 or more, do rounds of drinks. As you can imagine, the queue for refreshments is pretty monstrous. For a busy game, you can expect to be away from your spot for about 3 service games if you are on drinks detail. The best bar go to is the “Drinks Spot” immediately to the right of the big screen (it may look long, but it moves very fast)

- Bring a Cool Box. You’re allowed to take 2 cans of beer or a bottle of wine/bubbly into the grounds. I’d highly recommend bringing in drinks (but make sure you can keep them cold!).

- Don’t worry about positioning yourself too close to the screen like in the cinema. Given the slope of the hill, you never really have to crane your neck.

- Finally, watch out for drinks toppling over uphill from you! As the day goes on, fans tend to spill more and more drinks. This seems to have a Himalayan/Ganges “run-off” effect where streams of lager, pimms and ice find their way into the back of your shorts. Don’t say i didn’t warn you!