Museums & Attractions

1 Eltham Palace
This stunning art deco house was built in 1936 for the Courtauld family and restored by English Heritage. The adjoining medieval Great Hall is well worth a visit at any time of year but the 19-acre garden really comes into its own during summer, when the long border transforms what was once the South Moat into a riot of herbaceous perennials. There’s also a formal rose garden, extensive rockery and, clambering up one of the walls, a magnificent magnolia grandiflora whose huge, highly scented flowers can be enjoyed from the terrace.
Eltham Palace, Court Yard, SE9 (020 8294 2548/www.elthampalace.org.uk) Eltham rail.

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Isabella Plantation (© Royal Parks)

2 Isabella Plantation
Watching south-west Londoners mistake chugging around Richmond Park in their 4x4s for a day in the country isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, but the traffic-free Isabella Plantation is a real oasis. Established during the 1950s, the ornamental woodland garden consists of clearings, ponds and streams and is planted with ferns, exotic trees and shrubs. It’s particularly striking during April and May when the azaleas and rhododendrons put on their annual show.
Richmond Park (nearest gates Ham or Ladderstile), Surrey (020 8948 3209/ www.royalparks.org.uk) Richmond tube/rail then 65, 371 bus.

Geffrye Museum Gardens (© Sunniva Harte/Geffrye Museum)

3 Geffrye Museum Gardens
Just as the Geffrye’s period rooms trace the development of the British domestic interior from the sixteenth century to the present, its ‘garden rooms’ illustrate changing planting styles across half a millennium, from modest designs for Elizabethan townhouses to hothouse exotics loved by the Victorians, and the Edwardian template on which many modern gardens are based. There’s also a traditional herb garden that examines the various uses of over 170 specimens and includes arbours with secluded seating in its traditional, geometric scheme.
Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Rd, E2 (020 7739 9893/www.geffrye-museum.org.uk) Liverpool St tube/rail then 149, 242 bus or Old St tube/rail then 243 bus.

China Landscape at the British Museum

4 China Landscape at the British Museum
This summer (May 3-Oct 27), a garden designed to reflect connections between China’s natural habitat and its culture will be planted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the forecourt of the British Museum. Most of the featured plants are native to the mountains of Sichuan province in south-west China. Bamboo, a construction material for everything from fabric to bridges as well as a source of food and sweet wine, will have its place, of course. As will a maidenhair tree (ginkgo biloba), the only surviving member of a group of plants that was widespread at the time of the dinosaurs. No Chinese landscape would be complete without poetry, so there will be a nod to the Chinese tradition of classical scholars’ gardens – venues for social gatherings or silent contemplation – thanks to the inclusion of a rock inscribed with calligraphy.
British Museum, 44 Great Russell St, WC1 (020 7636 1555/ www.britishmuseum.org) Russell Square or Tottenham Court Rd tube.

5 Fenton House
Terrace walks, a formal lawn and a sunken rose garden grace the northern part of this garden, which adjoins a seventeenth-century merchant’s house. More unusual, though, is the 300-year-old orchard where some 30 varieties of English apple are grown. You can sample the old varieties on Apple Day, in September.
Fenton House, Hampstead Grove, NW3 (020 7435 3471/www.nationaltrust.org.uk) Hampstead tube.

Chiswick House Kitchen Garden (© Annette Wendland)

6 Chiswick House Kitchen Garden
Walled gardens have been on this site since the late 1600s but the once grand kitchen garden lay neglected from the 1920s until it was rediscovered a few years ago. Now run entirely by volunteers, the garden is being gradually revived with historically accurate vegetable and fruit beds, a herb maze and cuttings garden. Local children and adults have played a key part in this transformation and though the garden doesn’t as yet have regular opening times, you can join one of the informal, drop-in work sessions for anything from a spot of weeding to more strenuous tasks, or attend an open day.
Chiswick House Kitchen Garden, Dukes Avenue, W4 (www.kitchengarden.org.uk) Turnham Green tube then E3 bus to Edensor Rd or Hammersmith tube/rail then 190 bus or Chiswick rail.