Stokefest

My second day wandering around town, A-Z in one hand and Open Garden Squares guide in the other, began at the Chelsea Physic Garden. Located beside the Thames, but completely hidden behind high walls, the four-acre garden has served as an educational resource for medicinal plants since 1673 . Sections of the garden are devoted to different aspects of medicine:
The lush garden repeatedly tempted me to sit and linger for the entire day, but its Open Garden Squares opening was only from 9:00-11:30 A.M., so that wasn't an option.
The greenhouses were beautiful
and the café looked wonderful, with all that shade that was so lacking during yesterday's outings.
If you preferred a sunny sit, there was many spots to do that as well. Don't think that all this garden talk means that the staff are pushovers, though:
I wandered around in the morning sunshine, marvelling at the diverse landscapes on display.

This statue caught me off guard, hiding in the flowers and with a ladybug (or "ladybird" as it's called here--which sounds so much nicer, although potentially more confusing as well) for a dimple:
That's Sir Joseph Banks hiding in the garden, amongst some of the Icelandic basalt that he brought to England as a souvenir of one of his many journeys.I was surprised to learn that the 234-year-old rock garden is a listed Grade II* structure, and is England's oldest rock garden still on public view. Rocks salvaged from the Tower of London are amongst those that make up this beautiful and historic rock garden, if you need any more reason to be impressed. The area around Chelsea Physic Garden is one part of Chelsea that we've not yet explored, and even as I realised I'd have to hurry to make it to the next garden with enough time before its 11:00 A.M. closing time, I couldn't help but be intrigued by many of the buildings I saw along the way. Here was the next garden of the day--looming high above Kensington High Street. Looking up from the pavement, the flags and hint of greenery give little indication of the garden's scope,
which is incredibly vast. The Roof Gardens are part of a private club owned by Sir Richard Branson; 1.5 acres of gardens, divided into Spanish, English woodland, and Tudor gardens, include 71 full-size trees along with fountains and streams. This is the Spanish garden
and one of the sights I noticed on my way to the Tudor garden.
The scale of the garden umbrellas in the Tudor garden fits with the over-the-top atmosphere of the gardens, although plenty of charming touches also bring the gardens back down to earth,
at the same time that the views remind you that you're 100 feet above Kensington High Street.
The gardens were the dream of Trevor Bowen,
then vice-president of Barkers Department Store, which the building housed. After two years' work, the gardens opened in 1938, but their future was in doubt when the building became empty in 1975. In 1976 a Tree Preservation Order was issued to ensure that any development did not endanger the historic garden. The brochure I was given when I entered the garden even lists the names and locations of all 71 trees! In 1982, Branson reopened the gardens as part of his Virgin Limited Edition properties. Flamingos, ducks, ducklings (at this time of year),

and fish all call the gardens home.
A restaurant (with a wince-worthy name) overlooks the gardens,
and as much as I disapprove of the name, I can't complain about the patio,
which offers views of the garden
as well as the city. Contrary to all the talk about the club being members-only and the gardens being "limited edition," the gardens are open to the public on an ongoing basis. In my opinion, this is not very well publicised, and you are advised to call ahead to check the status of openings, but I believe free entry to the gardens is open to all! From Kensington, I wandered through South Kensington in search of my next garden, seen here from the street:
After the official nature of the Courtfield Gardens (East) sign,
I quite enjoyed this homemade sign,
tacked to a tree whose back did indeed look very weak.

The gardens were peaceful, including some open spaces


and plenty of great places for sitting

and enjoying the 1870 church at the centre of the garden.
This flower emerged at my eye-level as I walked along the path:
This is slightly off-topic, but what does this sign (seen on my way to the next garden) mean to you?
Chances are your answer is very different depending on where you live, with Canadians thinking that this is the way to an underground train (a subway), while Britons know that the sign in fact points the way to a pathway under a busy, difficult-to-cross street (a sub-way). At some point, I'll have to devote an entire post to some words that have very different meanings in London and Vancouver . . . but for now I'll get on with the last garden of the day:

Belgrave Square has a fantastic layout, with two concentric gardens filling the large square. I walked along the outer garden's path, and stopped to take a pic of this cute dog, who actually barked at quite a few passers-by, prompting his owner to remark to the last bark-ee, "I'm sorry, he's just not used to seeing so many people in the garden." Ah yes, us commoners. Don't worry, we'll be gone tomorrow! At one point along the path, this striking sculpture

gazes out toward the street. There are also smaller enclosed gardens along the path, including this one with hedgerows all around:
A sculpture near one of the entrances to the inner garden commemorates the co-architect of the square, George Basevi:
The inner garden is physically separated from the outer garden by latched gates, and when I entered the inner space, I was surprised to find a completely secluded garden with a very different character than the outer landscape: Refreshments

and a central space filled with live jazz once again tempted me to sit and stay all day.
But even though my garden visits were done for the day, I still had one more place I wanted to go, so after a relaxing sit, I left Belgrave Square, but not before coming across this amazing statue of the first Marquess of Westminster:
Well, not that far away from Belgrave Square in distance (10 km), but quite far away in mindset, good old Clissold Park was my final stop of the day. As I entered the park, it didn't look that crowded

at first, but when I got further into the park, I was shocked to see how many people had shown up for Stokefest, our free neighbourhood summer festival. I found this clown rather scary
but maybe you had to be in order to get people to move aside so this train could make its way around the park.
The obligatory balloons were out in force, and it was nice to see a festival offering free drinking water rather than charging inflated prices for bottled water.
This was some sort of demonstration that involved continuous movement around each of the participants . . . it didn't really look like fun to me!
Of course you can't have a festival without face-painting, and it was nice to see something rather eerie going on rather than the usual stars and butterflies.
I have no idea what this was, other than a display area for kids' artwork. The structure is made of cardboard boxes and there isn't anything in the middle. I think the creators are making very liberal use of the word "crazy."
Still, I enjoyed some of the artwork very much!

This tree didn't have a sign on it like the one in Courtfield Gardens East did, but then again, its back looked like it could take on all the festivities with ease.
Sometimes the simple treats are the most popular,
but if you required more distraction, there was plenty available.

Even though I initially thought I'd go back down to the Royal Festival Hall for the final day of Overture, I began to realise that I definitely didn't have the energy to make my way back down to the Thames. I began to walk through the park toward home,
but the foot-traffic out of the park was completely bottlenecked. People were stuck on this narrow bridge as they tried to move between parts of the park, and even though I had initially planned on heading across the bridge, I decided to rethink my route.
Good thing I did, because the Clissold rabbits were cuter than ever, oblivious to the crowds and noise around them.

It might have been easier to win a prize here than find my way out of the crowds though!

Ah well, on my way out I saw a pirate ship,
a boy determined to hold his balloon as high as possible (even while enjoying a frozen treat--extra points for dedication and not falling prey to distraction),
a herd of wild animals,
and a nice bit of contrast in the form of children's fun topped with an empty beer can.
Oh and of course there were dogs.

After a very full weekend with a lot of walking and a bit too much sun, I felt like I was looking in a mirror when I came across this pup,
but unlike most times when a wave of "okay-London-you've-conquered-me-I-can't-do-any-more" exhaustion comes over me, today I wasn't a hot, crowded, and seatless tube-tube-bus journey from home; I was just a ten-minute walk away. Ahh, the simple pleasures.