St James’s Park – Delighting Five Million Visitors a Year

View from the Blue Bridge to Buckingham Palace

The remarkable thing about St James’s Park is not its undoubted charm but the fact that it has over five million visitors a year yet still looks fresh and well-kept, a tribute to the Royal Parks. The sense of tranquillity … Continue reading

Chiswick House and Gardens – the Transformative Effect of Lottery Largesse

Chiswick House Main Front

When I first moved to West London I was curious to check out local parks and gardens, the first being Chiswick House and Gardens. The house at that time was a faded, tired but spectacular small villa under the custodianship … Continue reading

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – ‘If you haven’t got vision, you very quickly degrade the landscape’.

North Park Meadow and Velodrome in 2012

‘If you haven’t got vision, you very quickly degrade the landscape’. These were the prophetic words spoken five years ago by James Hitchmough the designer of much of the landscape planting at the 2012 Olympic Park (now renamed the Queen … Continue reading