Chelsea Physic Garden

Yesterday I officially ticked the first item off my list - I went to Chelsea Physic Garden!  I had a day off from work because I had a lot of extra hours built up and had a really LOVELY day pottering around the shops and having lunch and visiting the garden.

My first impression was 'what a haven!'. The Physic Gardens are a lovely little spot right in the middle of bustling Chelsea and aside from anything else, a really lovely place to wander around, look at pretty flowers and relax, oh and visit the lovely tea room.

The brief history factsheet that they give you on the door told me that the gardens was founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries of London 'so that their apprentices could learn to grow medicinal plants and study their uses.'  It was originally built here because of the promixity to the river which meant that the climate was a bit milder and so they were able to grow plants there that might not otherwise have survived our harsh winters. 

I found the pharmaceutical beds particularly interesting and learnt a few things about the medicinal properties of some plants.  I didn't know, for instance, that some plants can be used for cardiology problems and I was interested in the dermatology section as well because of my eczema (they cited evening primrose oil as an example of something prescribed for eczema.

Mostly, I just really enjoyed wandering around in the calming atmosphere and in the sunshine (it was 30 degrees yesterday!) and reading bits and pieces of information about the plants.  My only slight disappointment is that I would have liked to know a bit more about each particular plant, for example how long this particular plant had been in the garden, and where it came from.

It was amazing to see things like pineapples growing in London!  I sat for a while in the lavender part of the History beds and scribbled some notes into my phone and took a few photos.

Then I went for a slice of orange and almond cake and an apple juice in the lovely café. They even offered me a choice of three apple juices - cox, russet and something else which I can't now remember. The cake was lovely and so was the juice (cox).  I think it would be nice to go back there sometime with family and have a proper lunch. There were lots of elegant Chelsea 'ladies who lunch' sitting on the white tables and  chairs under white umbrellas and it all looked very civilized!

This is just a quick post as I'm going to go and have a nap in a minute (I'm running a 10km race this evening and hopefully beating my time and hence ticking another item off my list).  As you might have realised from the photos though, I've now set up a Flickr account for this project so you can see more of my photos from the Chelsea Physic Garden there.

I'll blog tonight's race tomorrow or soon afterwards hopefully. Wish me luck!