Features

Glorious photos of Chelsea’s secret garden

August 4, 2015

Chelsea Physic Garden has been providing plants for apothecaries for centuries and today it is a real London hidden gem that is like an oasis of calm.

London’s Chelsea is a salubrious area that the great and good of London society have called home for centuries.

Stroll its back streets, which are home to beautiful Georgian squares, and you’ll see plaques for past illustrious residents, including George Eliot, Sir Alexander Fleming, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde.

But hidden in its streets is another gem, a serene escape from the hectic pace of London life: Chelsea Physic Garden.

Hans Sloane statue, Chelsea Physic Garden

For centuries this walled garden, which was founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, and helped in no small part by local physician and philanthropist, Sir Hans Sloane, has housed an amazing collection of medicinal plants.

Today, for a small fee you can stroll its grounds, which are as peaceful and pretty a place that you will find in this city, and learn about plant cures and treatments for everything, from skin issues to the Plague.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Chelsea Physic Garden’s Florilegium Society – a group of botanical artists – an exhibition of paintings and drawings will be held from today until 26 August which features some of the specimens in the garden.

Many of the art works will also be included in the Society’s new book, Botanical Illustration from Chelsea Physic Garden, by Andrew Brown.

Why not visit the exhibition, which is open from 11am-4pm each day, and is free with entry to the garden, and then see if you can spot the plants featured outside.