Barbican to Temple • Celebrating London Open Gardens 2025
Walking the Layers of London
There’s no better way to understand a city than by walking it. On Sunday 8th June I strolled through the square mile along the London Open Gardens horticulture and history exploration of the Square Mile route created by Garden Coordinator Marion Blair.
I found community gardens thriving amid Brutalist estates, ancient monastic grounds transformed into pollinator havens, and secluded courtyards where stories and species quietly take root side by side
Golden Lane Estate & Golden Baggers Allotments
Behind the Sir Ralph Perring Centre on the Golden Lane Estate, the Golden Baggers Allotments have transformed a former nursery playground into a buzzing community of raised beds, fruit trees, and wildflowers. What started with 20 repurposed builder’s bags is now a model for community-led urban greening.
With composters, a communal herb garden, a biodiversity patch for pollinators, and even a children’s plot, it’s a space that grows far more than just food—it cultivates pride, purpose, and resilience.
Barbican Wildlife Garden
At the nearby Barbican Wildlife Garden I met fellow Ranger Kabir Kaul, who is an ambassador for this biodiverse gem. Nestled behind Bunyan Court, the garden is part of a crucial green corridor network—a safe passageway for urban wildlife through London.
All waste is composted, the site is fully self-sustaining, and with support from City Gardens, the garden has become a hub for citizen science and ecological restoration. A soft rustling in the wildflower meadow, the quiet hum of bees, the sudden flutter of a sparrow—it was hard to believe I was in the heart of the Barbican.
The Charterhouse: Living History
At The Charterhouse I stepped into a space where time slows. Encompassing seven acres, including six courtyard gardens, the site remains a home for the “Brothers” of the almshouse, just as it has since the 17th century.
These gardens are maintained with both historic dignity and biodiversity in mind. Veteran mulberry trees, wildflower meadows, native hedgerows and rewilded corners buzz with life. A designated Grade II Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, it’s a rare inner-city refuge for both pollinators and people. For the residents, the gardens are a source of healing, creative inspiration and daily joy.
Cloth Fair Hidden Garden: A Welcome with Bagpipes
As I wandered toward Cloth Fair, I was greeted by the evocative strains of bagpipes—a surreal and stirring soundtrack to my arrival. Behind the towering Church of St Bartholomew the Great, the Cloth Fair Hidden Garden is a reclaimed wonder.
Once a neglected plot, it has been lovingly restored by local volunteers since 2017. Designed to stimulate all five senses, the garden features pollinator-friendly planting and textural greenery. Here, the past and present meet in scented petals and birdsong. Look up, and you see the 900-year-old Priory Church. Look down, and the garden beckons with life.
The Garden of the Stationers’ Company
Through an archway on Ave Maria Lane, I entered the garden of the Stationers Company, one of London’s oldest livery companies. Beneath the canopy of a London Plane tree planted in 1837, I found a garden lush with hydrangeas, foxgloves and hostas—designed in 2008 by Iain Kitson and recently enhanced by the rediscovery of medieval paving stones.
As a guild dedicated to the printed word, the Stationers are now planting for pollinators, participating in the Inter Livery Climate Forum, and planning to install a bee hotel—a poetic evolution from parchment to pollen.
A Glorious Finale: The Temple Gardens
My final stop, and what a finale it was, unfolded in three remarkable spaces within the historic Temple precinct:
Middle Temple Garden
Hidden behind the Church of the Knights’ Templar, this vegetable and cutting garden is an unexpected delight. Mulberry trees in Fountain Court, planted for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, offer dappled shade. A pollinator garden flourishes beneath a Cornus kousa, and a unique microclimate allows tender plants like Plumbago to thrive. Walking these paths, I could see why Charles Dickens drew inspiration for Pickwick Papers and Great Expectations right here.
The Master’s Garden
A peaceful haven beside Temple Church, the Master’s Garden feels like a hidden cloister of calm. Designed on an elevated plateau above 17th-century burial catacombs, the garden is filled with herbaceous borders, shrubs and trees. Under the care of gardener Bob McMeekin, it’s a space both steeped in history and alive with colour.
Inner Temple Garden
With a horticultural legacy dating back to 1195, this garden is simply astonishing. Managed by Head Gardener Sean Harkin, it boasts deep herbaceous borders, experimental planting, and an expansive Broadwalk lined with historic London Plane trees. Once the site of the RHS Spring Flower Show, the garden today focuses on biodiversity and sustainability, with wildflower meadows, succulents, and 300-year-old specimen trees.
Looking out over the Thames from this green plateau, with Big Ben on the horizon, I felt both awe and gratitude. This was not just a garden—it was a manifesto in petals and pollinators.
Reflections from a London National Park City Ranger
Every garden I visited on this route told a story—not just of the past, but of a greener, more connected future. London Open Gardens offers more than access—it offers inspiration.
From community planters to historic guild courtyards, from sensory gardens to secret orchards, these are the places where a National Park City takes root—not in sprawling parks alone, but in the layered landscapes of everyday life.
So much of what I saw today was made possible by volunteers, residents, and green‑minded gardeners. Their work is not just horticultural—it’s hopeful.
