Sitting in the garden is one of summer’s greatest pleasures, whether you have a giant football pitch or a small postage stamp, opening the back door and drinking your first cup of tea in the sunshine is the very best way to start the day.
Visiting other peoples gardens is another lovely summer pursuit and is a great way to get inspiration for your own space. The National Garden Scheme is a good way to find interesting gardens, you also get the opportunity to nose round other peoples houses (another favourite hobby) and there is usually tea and cake. Just search by by postcode and date to find gardens in your local area – I’m particularly looking forward to checking out the gardens of Spitalfields next weekend.
Last weekend we ventured over to Peckham to visit the very special community at Choumert Sqaure. A friends sister lives there and I had wanted to see the one up one down houses and their urban gardens for ages. They were even more delightful than I had imagined, the houses face each other and are divided by a path and each tiny front garden is filled with pots, flowers and garden decorations.
Apparently there is a real sense of community and in the summer everyone opens their front doors (there are no back doors) and all the pets wander in and out of the houses.
Always on the look out for the perfect place to grow old with the right combination of community and privacy, I think I may have found it. And who knew Peckham was so nice?
You’d think those gardens were all in the county – you’d never know they were in a city.