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This flight of fancy is one of my favourite places in London. It's a few moments from bustling Hampstead but feels like something from another time.
The red brick Victorian pergola is a delight, crammed with plants and trees, the twisting paths and ornate walkways are a joy to discover. Each flight of steps leads to something new. I love this place in winter when the frost outlines the hanging vines and the sun sparkles on the pond.
North End Way, Hampstead, NW3
Google map: bit.ly/Vp3Izx
Imagine a combination of healthy herbs, flavoursome flowers, juicy fruits, alcoholic tipples and a little night music thrown in and you have London’s hottest pop-up cocktail bar.
Lovely Lottie, the ‘Cocktail Gardener’ has created a fabulous roof-top paradise with botanically-infused drinks straight from the garden.
Last year, Lottie completed a one-year horticultural course at Capel Manor with honours and was looking for a vacant plot she could transform.
She found the neglected circular plot on the roof of the Brunel Museum, just across the road from her home.
In spring, with the help of fellow students, Lottie transformed the plot into a beautiful, edible garden with six raised beds radiating out from a central sundial.
By day, this rooftop cottage kitchen garden can be visited and enjoyed by all, while on Saturday evenings in September, Lottie places shimmering, coloured birds and flares among the plants, puts out the deckchairs, takes off her gardening gloves and rustles up the most amazing ‘prescriptions’ – her cocktail creations.
Visitors sip divine drinks amongst the foliage; honey and basil daquiris, whisky mint juleps, raspberry mint martinis and lavender gin fizzes with lavender sprigs as swizzle sticks.
Lottie uses borage blossom as decoration and also creates inspired, imaginative – and potent – creations such as lovage with brandy, gin with thyme or chocolate mint in whisky.
As Lottie says ‘Although we use lots of herbs and flowers, our cocktails really pack a punch.’
The marvellous Midnight Apothecary will only last until the end of September, so visit soon and reap the benefits!
Midnight Apothecary is going on till Sat 29 Sept, but then they have two specials - for Halloween (Sat 27 Oct) and Bonfire night (Sat 3 Nov.) In between, Lottie will be doing the bar for the Royal Horticultural Society's harvest festival event on 9 October.
www.brunel-museum.org.uk
Midnight Apothecary
Free entry, cash bar
Every Saturday in September 5pm-10.30pm
Brunel Museum, Railway Avenue SE16 4LF
Nearest tube: Rotherhithe
Buses: C10, 188, 381
Tours of the Grand Entrance Hall at 7:30pm (£5)
Google map: bit.ly/RVPDWG
* Lucy is our Been there local for London. You can read her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/london-local-lucy-mallows.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/LucyRM.jsp
In the 90s I used to walk Yogi, a joyful Bouvier des Flandres, in these gardens every day. Yogi has long gone, but the gardens are in better shape than ever after a £12.1m facelift courtesy of National Lottery funding. An artificial lake, classic bridge, cascade of waterfalls and even an Inigo Jones gateway are just some of the treasures hidden among the specimen trees and latticework of pathways in this early example of English landscape gardening. Dogs still roam free in the wild woods and fields, but must be leashed in the more formal areas.
chgt.org.uk
Conservatory Yard, Chiswick House, London W4 2QN
+44 (0) 20 8742 3905
Google map: bit.ly/PPXHqo
St.Pancras Gardens is surely the quirkiest park in London full of quiet corners and eccentric memorials.
In the middle sits St.Pancras Old Church, one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in Europe. The surrounding park is what remains of the old churchyard cut through from 1863 by construction of the Midland Railway into St.Pancras Station. The exhumation of the graves was overseen by Thomas Hardy, then a young architect, who placed many of the headstones in a circular pattern around an ash tree, whose roots now entangle the stones around what is known as Hardy's Tree.
When the churchyard was re-opened as a public park in 1877 the Burdett-Coutts Sundial had been added as a memorial to all those whose graves had been exhumed and moved elsewhere.
Among the graves that were left in situ are those of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft and the monument designed by Sir John Soane for his wife. The latter will look very familiar to most people because it was the inspiration for Gilbert Scott's design of the K2 red telephone box.
All this for free in a lovely park with a beautiful fence and gates all recently restored with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
191 Saint Pancras Way, London NW1 9NH
+44(0)20 7424 0724
Google map: bit.ly/mSFivF
This delightful garden was originally laid out by social reformer Octavia Hill.
Hill (1838-1912) was an amazing woman and way ahead of her time. She was a pioneer of affordable housing and many consider her the founder of modern social work. She campaigned tirelessly for the environment and open spaces and co-founded the National Trust, which today protects over 300 historic properties and keeps 250,000 hectares of land open to everybody.
Hill believed in humane housing conditions and arranged for the construction of two rows of pretty cottages and a community hall, designed by Elijah Hoole. The garden predated the buildings and was laid out in 1887. It was created to provide ‘an open air sitting room for the tired inhabitants of Southwark’ and had an elaborate layout of curved lawns, flower beds and serpentine paths, an ornamental pond with fountain, bandstand and covered children's play area. There were once two mosaics in the garden. One showing ‘The Sower' was restored in 2005 and can still be seen.
Bankside Open Spaces Trust used Heritage Lottery funding to restore the garden to its former glory, complete with pond, bridge, fountain, flower beds and paths winding through this lovely Victorian garden.
50 Redcross Way, London SE1 1HA
Jubilee Line underground to Southwark
Google map: bit.ly/jsTIXR
This pop-up community garden has transformed a plot of wasteland in the shadow of the railway arches into a gorgeous green space: a place of healing and learning - with a dose of greenery thrown in for good measure.
Created by a collective of urban gardeners, designers and a team of volunteers, and shaped by a hospital department, the UPG also hosts a series of talks, workshops and film screenings.
The Rambulance restaurant nestles in the corner of the space in an old ambulance and serves up a seasonal menu of homegrown veg and herbs.
This lovely garden provides a space for artists, gardeners and health workers to explore the role of plants in the nation's health.
100 Union Street, London, SE1 0NL
www.physicgarden.org.uk
Open Tuesday to Sunday until 15 August
Google map: bit.ly/kfhFpv
Nearest tube station: Southwark
Kew Gardens is a fabulous place to spend time. No matter what time of year you visit, there is always something new blooming or growing, waiting to wow you. But there is so much more to Kew than Gardens. There is beautiful architecture, a treetop walkway, art exhibitions, talks and even a mini music festival in summer. There's also a fabulous indoor and outdoor place space for kids too. Something for everyone!
www.kew.org/index.htm
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB
+44 (0)20 8332 5655
Google map: bit.ly/juBH5q
Right in the middle of Chelsea is a wonderful secret garden. Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, it continues to research the properties, origins and conservation of more than 5000 plant species. But the nicest thing is just to sit there with a book on a sunny day. The cafe also sells some gorgeous food, especially the salads and the cakes.
Note that it isn’t open every day, and it does cost to get in. Details on the website.
You can quite often get two-for-one entry offers from rail companies, e.g. www.southeasterndaysout.co.uk/Attractions.aspx?County=London&TOCID=8
www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/
You can quite often get two-for-one entry offers from rail companies, e.g. www.southeasterndaysout.co.uk/Attractions.aspx?County=London&TOCID=8
For those who love variety and nature, R. B. Gardens at Kew may be the most pleasant destination in London. There's a Travelodge near the garden with great pre-booking offers, which can be booked via online, usually a few weeks in advance.
Book at: www.travelodge.co.uk
Directions from: www.kew.org
At more than 300ft long and 100ft wide, the centrepiece of the Royal Botanic Gardens is no ordinary greenhouse. You can imagine a T Rex stalking its prey among the prehistoric cycads, or close your eyes and let the warmth and perfumes transport you to a tropical isle. Underneath is the equally primordial Marine Display.
Kew Gardens, tube Kew Gardens, Richmond
A beautiful Victorian garden in the middle of Streatham Common. Queen Victoria visited for the now gone spa waters (is there a way they can be brought back?). Tranquil even at the height of summer, an oasis in the middle of south London. Plus, there is a lovely old-fashioned cafe run by quirky Italian old women.
Streatham Common - the nearest train station is Streatham.
www.lambeth.gov.uk/AboutLambeth/TownCentresStreatham.htm
A secret walled garden beside the river in Chelsea. The second oldest botanic garden in the UK, it was founded by the Society of Apothecaries in 1673 and has been growing plants with medicinal uses ever since.
It's sheltered, sunny and dry enough to grow plants from the Canary Islands, Madeira and South Africa - and is a great place to escape from the fast pace of city living for an hour or two.
www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/
Note, it's only open to the public on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons
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