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The reason for visiting London this particular weekend was to enjoy the London Open Gardens, it is much like the open gardens which most towns do but of course being London some of them are a bit special and there are over 100 of them. Our first garden (Nic's Secret Garden) was a bit of scrap land alongside All Hallows Church which a City of London gardener (Nick) was annoyed about as the weeds were spreading to the gardens he was maintaining. He asked the vicar if he could use it and it is now used to store pot plants and propagate new ones.
The next garden was on top of an office block belonging to the law firm Eversheds & Sutherland. The people who work in the building have set up a gardening and bee keeping club and they maintain a garden on the roof with flowers and bee hives. It is very much a wild garden (and a bit of a climb onto the roof) but a great idea and the views are wonderful.
The next garden is a bit of "spare" land next to the Barbican Centre, like the others it is not normally open to the public and is managed by volunteers.
Next door was another great idea, a very small area next to a social housing estate whose residents can join the gardening club and are given a 4ft square box to use as an "allotment". Almost all were being used to grow vegetables or fruit and whilst one on it's own does not make much of a garden, 60 of them do. Being fenced off the plants are safe from vandals / thieves.
The most interesting garden on Sunday was Charterhouse, a number of Tudor buildings which were once Charterhouse school but are now almshouses. They enclose three large courtyard gardens which are right next to Barbican station yet are incredibly quiet and peaceful. We did manage another four gardens during the day all of which make very good use of very small pots of land.
Ian and Denise's flat, where we stayed, is part of the Butlers Wharf area, theirs does not overlook the Thames like those in the picture below but it is a great spot with restaurants and bars close by and a short walk into the city.
It was a very enjoyable break but we have now come home for a rest before deciding where to go next, watch this space for news.
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