Chelsea Physic Garden – http://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/

I recently visited this great old physic garden in central London. The sign outside says it was established by the ‘Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London‘ in 1673 and is the second oldest botanic garden in England. It is currently a very well run and exciting garden to visit, tour and peruse.

It has an excellent wide collection of herbs and other plants that have potential nutritional and medicinal uses. I liked especially the large range of beds organised into plant families and showing how the plants relate in taxonomic terms.

There are several newly developed areas within covering a diverse range of industries like fragrance and perfumery along with a good display space for kitchen gardening. You can easily spend a a few hours wandering around in it and the cafe is worth a visit for lunch or a snack.

The highlight for me was finding some Mandrake fruit lying about in one of the beds near the glasshouses.

We were really lucky to be visiting on a clear sunny summer day. Here’s a small selection of the snaps I took…