Hill Garden and Pergola

This weekend marked the return of my second-favourite London event, Open Garden Squares. With more than 170 gardens of all shapes and sizes participating, this is the one weekend each year that the general public is able to freely access most of these spaces, and even those gardens that hold regular public openings often have something special going on during these two days. With some London neighbourhoods having more private greenspace than public greenspace, I love this weekend for the opportunity it gives to see more of the city--the same reason that I also love my favourite London event, which happens each autumn. Even though my hay fever has been proving to be the worst of my life this spring, I braved nature for the sake of the event, and was glad I did--even though my sinuses paid the price. Of the ten gardens we visited today, two have regular opening hours, two are open by appointment, and six are only usually accessible to home-owners (and their guests) whose properties surround the square in question. We started off the day down by St James's Park, at Carlton House Terrace, whose small, regal gardens were planted for "persons of the highest social rank" to enjoy.

Our next three stops were close to each other, near Regent's Park. Park Square is located just off busy Marylebone Road, but feels a world away from the constant traffic jam that occupies that street.

Neither of us could remember if we'd seen grass tennis courts anywhere except on TV!

One of the most interesting features of Park Square is just down this path,

where a passageway known as the Nursemaids' Tunnel goes underneath Marylebone Road,

emerging on the other side in Park Crescent.

The nearby Royal College of Physicians' Medicinal Garden was our next destination--while we didn't search out the nearly 1,000 medicinal plants listed on the guide we were given upon entering, the garden was a lovely spot at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac.

The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518; a bust commemorating the College's first president from 1518-24, Thomas Linacre, overlooks the garden.

How much does a tree grow in 43 years?

Quite a bit!

We made our way south of Hyde Park for our next two stops, just a few minutes' walk apart. Cadogan Place Gardens were simply lovely, with a variety of spaces catering to users' different needs.

Unlike the grass courts we saw earlier today, these courts were in use when we walked past:

The tall palm trees were quite striking:

The small, easily missed plaque on the step reads, "To the memory of Christopher Head, for some years Hon. Secretary of these gardens, who perished on the Titanic April 15th 1912."

Cadogan Place Gardens certainly had the best-camouflaged bins that we saw today!

During the five-minute walk to the next garden, we saw many beautiful houses (we were firmly in the land of the very, very wealthy), and one particular estate agent seemed to deal in many of these fancy-pants properties, even appropriating the colour and form of London's blue plaques, as well as a happenstance combination of names to make me do a double-take the first time I noticed one of their signs:

Needless to say, Henry & James don't do business in our neighbourhood! This is more their cuppa tea:

Cadogan Square Gardens were about half the size of Cadogan Place Gardens, and very much in the same vein:

From one ultra-posh part of London to another, our next stop was up in Hampstead, home to many a celebrity. Gainsborough Gardens is at the centre of a gated portion of Hampstead--a place where the adjectives idyllic and moneyed don't really communicate the degree to which it feels so far removed from the hustle and bustle of central London. Some enterprising youngsters had set up a lemonade stand in the gardens, and we contributed 30p for a cool glass of lemonade to accompany our picnic lunch.

The front porch of the house across the garden from our bench

was occupied by this patient pup, who gazed longingly at the expanse of green grass from his red-brick location.

Before we exited through the gate, we walked along the outside edge of the gardens, taking in the lovely neighbourhood.

Our next stop was also in Hampstead, and along the way we passed this blue plaque for Katherine Mansfield that was almost hidden from the road:

This garden was probably our favourite of the day, simply because it was so unexpected and, well, astonishing. Although we've spent a decent amount of time on Hampstead Heath, we hadn't encountered the Hill Garden and Pergola on our strolls, and I don't think many people would stumble upon it. It's well worth searching out though, for just off one of the main roads running through the heath, down an unpromising-looking path, this is what you'll come across:

We thought that this was practically all there was to see, but it turns out that there's an 800-foot-long raised pergola as well, with amazing views over the heath.

The houses that back onto the pergola are a bit fancy themselves.

Visiting the Hill Garden and Pergola is exactly the reason why I love Open Garden Squares so much--although the garden has some limited public openings, we hadn't made it out here before and this weekend event was just the push we needed to discover a new part of London that instantly became one of our favourite corners of the city! As we neared our next destination, south of the Thames, we both laughed at the name on this building:

Although "lying-in" conjured up images of people lazing around for no particular reason, I later found out that the hospital used to be a maternity hospital, and that the term "lying-in" referred to the rest period women underwent after giving birth. Apparently, the hospital has been closed for quite some time, and has most recently been used as offices for a nearby hospital, but the building has now been sold and will be converted into a hotel, where, I suppose, the name will have new relevance. Our second-last stop of the day was at Lambeth Palace Garden, one of the largest and oldest private gardens in London. Lambeth Palace has been the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury since the 13th century, and the gardens themselves were first planted in the 12th century by the monks of Rochester, and have been in continuous use ever since. Located very close to Waterloo Station, just off an obnoxiously busy thoroughfare, the palace gardens were an unexpectedly wonderful place.

We hadn't realised how large Lambeth Palace Gardens would be, and although our last stop of the day was just a few minutes' walk away, we arrived at the Museum of Garden History just before closing time. We weren't here for the museum itself, housed in a 900-year-old church,

but for the small, charming back garden that forms a delightful oasis,

especially when coupled with coffee and treats from the utterly fantastic café. With everything made from scratch by the people working the café counter, and tempting smells coming from the kitchen, we immediately made a mental note to return to this spot for another culinary visit--again, more proof that Open Garden Squares is such a great opportunity to learn more about London. By now it was after 5:00 P.M. and with all the gardens closed for the day, and after almost seven hours of travelling around the city, snooping in greenspaces, we were ready for some indoor activities that involved less pollen and more sitting. (After all, there was still one more day of Open Garden Squares tomorrow.) Directly across from the Museum of Garden History, we were treated to this postcard view across the Thames,

and up by Waterloo Station, the Hayward Gallery was decked out for its wonderful-looking current exhibition of alternative architecture, Psycho Buildings, which is definitely on my list of events to check out.

That's the problem with London, really: an always-expanding to-do list!