Hidden Green Spaces in London: Open Squares weekend

After a rather intense few days at Blogtacular OH and I spent Sunday seeing green spaces taking part in Open Squares weekend, some of which aren't normally open to the public. We love this kind of event as we see parts of London we wouldn't normally see and I am constantly surprised by the secrets that London holds.

First up we were in Great Fire of London territory having walked past Pudding Lane where the fire first took hold back in 1666. A little further up the street towards the Tower of London was St Olave's which is the final resting place of Samuel Pepys - you know the guy who wrote his diary during the Fire and buried his cheese in his garden to save it from the fire.

Here he is above and below is the small green space in front of the Church. It's normally open to the Public but isn't somewhere OH and I would normally head to. 

Walking back towards the Tower of London you could tell the Euros (football) were on

Now yes this isn't a garden but I don't think I've ever really noticed the detail on this Church which is on the way to the Tower

Can you tell we're very close to the Tower of London? The clue is in the name....

Next on my hit list was St Dunstan's in the East which had been featured in Gardener's World I couple of weeks ago and I'd never even heard of it.

It's another which is open all year round (and free) but again is somewhere we wouldn't necessarily have gone to. It was bombed in the War but has been left to it's own devises and it down a fabulous green oasis

Though I'm guessing that rather than let nature talk over nature has been helped along the way as not all the planting was necessarily native. 

Our first hidden space of the day was Nomura International PLC which was a stunning roof terrace of an office block overlooking the Thames

Bizarrely there were two ducks sunbathing on the terrace 

Many of these office block roof gardens have vegetable patches as well as formal planting 

This block also overlooked the local fire station where they were carrying out a practice drill. 

Pest control was also on display with a wide range of falcons used to keep pests at bay. 

Next up another public space near St Paul's called Cleary Park dedicated to Fred near a wonderfully named Huggin Hill 

At first I thought this was a little strip of green along a road but you then stumble across three layers of green - amazing 

 My mum and dad have a picture in their bathroom of St Paul's, an image I grew up with so I always love it when I get up close and personal. I took this as we went to our final destination of the day. 

 I hadn't realised that I would be seeing it again but much higher up at our last destination, Evershed's on Wood Street 

 Another roof terrace with an incredible wild flower meadow

There was even a beehive (though they say they don't produce too much honey) 

 And a vegetable garden which office workers look after 

And again the views were amazing 

Finally filming was also taking place on the street below Eversheds. Was interesting to watch a wind machine in action. Apparently they were filming a new Jaguar advert which isn't as exciting as say filming the new James Bond film but you can't have everything can you!