London's hidden gardens and green spaces

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 (www.royalparks.org.uk)

A well-kept south London secret, this pocket of green space is a leafy paradise. In summer the 19-acre garden springs into life and becomes a riotous confection of colour and scent. The 1936 art deco house has been restored by English Heritage and is a delight in itself, and as a day out it's a worthwhile alternative to the royal parks of central London.

Eltham Palace, Court Yard, SE9

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 8EA

This is a picture-perfect hidden spot lies just off the larger Lincoln's Inn Fields. It's open to the public in office hours, so you can enjoy its manicured gardens, fountains and sweet-scented plants.

New Square, WC2A 3QH

This charming, hidden backstreet garden in Southwark has been restored to its original Victorian glory with cottage and pond gardens, exotic shrubs and herbaceous borders.

Red Cross Garden, Redcross Way, SE1 9HR (7403 3393/www.bost.org.uk)

Enter Holland Park via the Abbotsbury Road entrance and in the centre you'll find this small but perfectly formed Japanese garden, with waterfall, koi carp and a stone bridge. It was created by Japanese artists in 1991 to celebrate the Japan festival, was refurbished in 2001 and remains one of London's most tranquil spots.

Kyoto Garden, Holland Park, W8 7QU

Possibly the City’s most sequestered spot is the garden in the bombed-out remains of the medieval St Dunstan-in-the-East, which was destroyed in the Blitz. Wall shrubs and climbers spill in through the derelict arched windows and scale the defunct steeple, while the tinkle of a fountain in the former nave drowns out yonder traffic.

St Dunstan-in-the-East Church Garden, St Dunstan’s Hill, EC3

A canopy of plane trees makes this park at the south end of Buckingham Palace Road (turn right up Semley Place) a perfect hideaway. You could believe you’re in the countryside as you gaze at the lilac trees, tulips, bluebells and allium that carpet the flowerbeds. A fountain in the centre completes the idyll.

Ebury Square Gardens, SW1W 9SU

Follow the signs from the tube to the abbey. In contrast to the abbey itself, the cloisters feel quiet and intimate. The Little Cloister has a garden and ornamental fountain, while the College Garden contains a seventeenth-century knot garden.

Westminster Abbey Cloisters and Gardens, Westminster Abbey, Victoria St, SW1P 3PA

Across the road from the better-known Highgate Wood, there is something more magical and quiet about Queen’s Wood – witness its hilly pathways through the oak, beech, mountain ash and cherry trees. It might be only a few hundred metres from Highgate tube station, but native bluebells, wood anemone and countless species of small animals and creepy crawlies make this a wonderful retreat.

Queen’s Wood, Muswell Hill Rd, N10 (www.fqw.org.uk)

While the grand old buildings here are now used by local artisans, the peaceful parkland is the real draw. Its meadows, islands and wildlife are all thriving, thanks to the River Wandle, which runs through it. Keep a look out for kingfishers landing on the water – a fantastic sight. Family events are held on the first and third Sunday of each month. A rose garden is among the other attractions.

Morden Hall Rd, Morden, SM4 5JD (8545 6850/www.nationaltrust.org.uk)

Created in a churchyard in 1880, this little memorial garden is shockingly quiet – despite being bracketed at either end by major, traffic-fizzing City thoroughfares. Victorian painter and philanthropist GF Watts created the monuments under the walled roof area as a tribute to the otherwise unsung everyday people who lost their lives saving the lives of others. They add a reverential and sombre air to the surroundings making Postman's Park not a place for rowdy Frisbeeing and such, then, but a pleasant hideaway in central London to remind oneself of the simple pleasures in – or rather, of – life.

Postman’s Park, King Edward St, EC1A 7BX

Bonnington Square, just spitting distance from the main drag of Vauxhall, is an unexpected idyll: a snug garden square with a close-knit community that seems incongruous amidst the surrounding sprawl. The square’s gardens are tended by the residents, and while you're there you can pay a visit to Bonnington Café (11 Vauxhall Grove, 7820 7466/www.bonningtoncafe.co.uk) where the locals take turns to cook.

Bonnington Square, SW8 (www.bonningtonsquaregarden.org.uk)