Still on our quest to visit as much gardens and parks in London this (temperamental) summer, our next stop was Chelsea Physic Garden. The weather wasn’t that great when we went, it was cloudy and was a bit windy but since there was no rain – we thought we should probably make the most out of this weather which we rarely see in London. Thank goodness the sun showed itself a couple of times during our visit.
Chelsea Physic Garden is London’s oldest botanical garden established in 1673 with the intention of discovering, cultivating and studying plants for medical and scientific purposes . Occupying 4 acres of land by the Thames River, it holds a unique collection of around 5,000 different plants and flowers. It’s big enough to explore but small enough to not be overwhelmed by its size.
The proximity to the river gives it a warm air current which made it the perfect place to grow plants that you wouldn’t normally see in the UK including an olive tree which gave them 7lb ripe olives in 1976 – a record olive harvest in the UK.
It was also here in Chelsea Physic Garden where the cotton seeds originated from which started the controversial cotton industry in the USA.
There were so many bees around which didn’t seem to mind all the people taking photos and videos of them (including myself of course) as they fly from one flower to the other. As we all know, bees are extremely important to us humans, no matter how tiny they are. So it’s nice to see them happily pollinating all the flowers inside the garden.
Unfortunately, the glass houses were still closed when we visited and it’s not indicated if and when it will be open again to the public. You can still enjoy it though from the outside.
There is an entrance fee to enjoy the beauty of this garden and it must be booked in advance as they’re trying to control the number of guests at any given time for social distancing. It wasn’t very crowded when we went which worked really well for us.
There is a cafe where you can enjoy freshly baked cakes as well as juice and alcoholic drinks. The cafe has a lovely outdoor seating area where you can enjoy your food and drinks with the garden as your view.
There’s also a gift shop inside but most importantly, their toilets are open. Yay! It seems like it’s one of the most important things now post covid-19.
It’s a gorgeous and lovely place to walk around in, if I had an old style camera I would have required at least four rolls of film during our 3-hour visit. There’s something to photograph at every corner.
Chelsea Physic Garden is open all week except Saturdays from 11am to 5:30pm. Ticket price is £13.50 per adult and the entry at the moment is via Swan Walk since they’re observing a one way system. The nearest tube station is Sloane Square. For more information, visit their website here.
Special thanks goes to my friend C for being my model in this post. She’s so patient as I bark my instructions to her. Look how happy she is. Lol.
Note: No woman was harmed during this photoshoot.
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It’s good to know about cotton! Also, your friend really suits your garden photo shoots. Enjoy going out but be safe!
Thank you! You too. 🙂