Tag: London
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Discovering St Paul’s Church: A Hidden Gem in London
St Paul’s Church, aka The Actors’ Church, Bedford St, London You may have seen the entrance to this church yourself. I have – many times – but I normally have somewhere to go, an appointment I’m late for, but the other week I stopped. And I’m so glad I did. St Paul’s church is known…
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The world under our feet
Soil – an exhibition at Somerset House, London – until 13th April 2025 Going to Somerset House in London is always a treat – not least because the building is almost a history lesson in itself.* But this time I was going down in more than one way… I believe I have a rich history…
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The Quiet Enchanting on London’s Strand
Shhh… you’ll have to listen even harder at the moment to hear the artwork whispering to you outside King’s Strand campus because it disappeared yesterday. I know. I know. It’s infuriating when that happens. In fact, I thought I probably should never post this, too late again, but then I remembered that things in gardens…
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Poor Susan and the sounds of the city
This week I was lucky enough to go on a guided walk around the city of London with Rosie from Dotmaker Tours. She was concentrating particularly on the sounds of the city – we walked without talking, just listening (almost too intense, was the verdict), we talked how the city would sound in the future…
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On the anniversary of Lancelot Brown’s death
Lancelot – Capability – Brown is best known as the creator of our current vision of the English landscape, so would it surprise you to know this is where he died? It happened on the 6th February 1783, 235 years ago today. Apparently the night before he’d collapsed on the doorstep of his daughter Bridget Holland’s…
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Cauliflower cheese with Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens isn’t an author I normally associate with writing about gardens. The grimy back streets around Covent Garden might come closest, but last week, recovering from a nearly all-night election watch, I visited the Charles Dickens Museum in his childhood home in Doughty Street… … and had a pick-me-up bowl of cauliflower cheese soup…
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Cas Holmes in the Garden
As soon as I saw this beautiful little picture by artist, Cas Holmes, I knew it had to be mine: It sums up my emotional roots in the Fen landscape just perfectly, and so I wasn’t surprised to find that Cas is from the Fens too. She’s a wonderful and interesting textile artist – just…
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Grass Mounds, Taking Risks and Riots – Spa Fields, Exmouth Market
I’ve been to Exmouth Market several times, but never ventured down this uninviting passage to visit Spa Fields… I’d thought it was a perfect place to take a plate of street food from the market, but then I read a little about its history. Turns out that its well-known for the Spa Fields riots of…
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Chelsea Fringe – Cake in the Garden…
Well, I’ve come to the end of (almost) daily posts but haven’t come to the end of all the London gardens so I will be posting more on here. Slowly though. And will be collating them all under the London Garden tab on this website. It’s been yummy, a piece of cake, the cherry on my…
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Chelsea Fringe – London Garden No 15
Five Minutes Peace: a garden to sit in, a poem to read, and a prompt to write to … No 15. (Find out more about what this is all about here.) BLOOMSBURY SQUARE OK, so this isn’t the prettiest London square, and when I sat there a lot of people seemed to be using it mostly…
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Chelsea Fringe – London Garden No 13
Five Minutes Peace: a garden to sit in, a poem to read, and a prompt to write to … No 13. (Find out more about what this is all about here.) Stone Flowers All the poems I’ve included so far have come from something in the garden. This one is a little different because it was…
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Chelsea Fringe – London Garden No 12
Five Minutes Peace: a garden to sit in, a poem to read, and a prompt to write to … No 12. (Find out more about what this is all about here.) BONNINGTON SQUARE, VAUXHALL What do you get if you design a garden by committee? Well, if you are lucky you will end up with something…