Sue Mitchell and I put in a bid at the St George’s weekend Auction of Promises and we won the trip to the Chelsea Physic Garden.

It was given by David and Helen Tidey. We eventually agreed on a date in July to suit us all.

Dave drove us first to Lambeth Palace to visit the Museum of Garden History. This museum is found in the Parish Church of St Margaret at Lambeth. We had to wait a few minutes for the doors to open and spent the time looking at the monuments in the old graveyard. Many sad stories of large families of children and only a few living to adulthood.

The museum is well worth a visit and probably more than one, there is so much to see. The garden at the rear is created around the family tomb of John Tradescant, who was gardener to Charles the First and a great plant hunter. A very tranquil spot in the heart of London. After coffee in the Museum café, Dave drove us to Chelsea. He did a great job of finding parking spaces so that Sue and I only had to walk a few yards at each place we visited.

The Chelsea Physic Garden is a lovely walled garden between the river and Royal Hospital Road. An area where in the 17th century there were orchards and market gardens and some great houses belonging to Henry the Eighth, Sir Thomas Moore and John Danvers all using the River Thames for transport. In 1671 The Society of Apothecaries of London founded the garden, so that their apprentices could learn to grow the medicinal plants and study their uses. Most of them are still growing in the garden, many of them poisonous plants. Also trees and plants from all over the world.

In 1712 Dr Hans Sloane bought Manor of Chelsea and it included the Physic Garden. He leased the garden to the Apothecaries for £5 per year and that sum is still paid to his heirs.

His name lives on in Sloane Square and Hans Crescent. A replica of his statue is in the Garden, but the original done by Michael Rysbrack is in the British Museum. We have a monument in St George’s by Rysbrack.

Our day included lunch. A lovely place to eat in the garden, good home made food, but on that day chaos in the kitchen and so it took a long time to get served.

We would both like to thank David and Helen for a lovely day out.

The photo is taken in the Garden of the Museum of Garden History by the Tradescant tomb.