Farmers' Market and Gardens

Today generally replicated a day I might have back in Oregon...

Except I did all of this in London. 

 

 My mother and I started the morning with a visit to a Farmer's Market.

We chose to visit the Kensington Farmer's Market.

Though it is hidden around the back side of a car park, it was extremely well attended. 

 

I'd guess it was smaller than the Lane County Farmers' Market I'm used to attending.  Nonetheless, there was a great selection of produce, food, and plants. 

 

The last think I expected to see was a large selection of apples and pears this time of year. 

 

After exploring the market, we walked down Kensington Palace Gardens road, one of the prettiest streets in London. It has a wonderful view of the Palace gardens, thus the name, and is home to many of the embassies located in London.  I wish I could share photos, but in this post-9-11 world, there are guards at both entrances and photography is forbidden.

 

I can share photos of Kensington Roof Gardens - it is amazing. 

It has flamingos for gosh sakes!

 

And it is a BIG garden.  I cannot imagine the engineering required to allow the building to support this garden with water features and full sized trees.  A pretty visionary idea someone had back in the 1930's. 

The garden also had some awesome views of the city of London.

 

From the garden it was only a short walk to Kensington Square.  It is one of London's oldest squares having been laid out in the 1680's.  This is a photo of the two oldest homes in the square.

And here's the garden.  It was private, so we admired it from the outside as we strolled around the square. 

 

A quiet, tranquil spot not far removed from the noise and bustle of Kensington High Street.

 

This is one of the side streets off the square.  I loved the geometry of the row houses first off to the right, and then in the distance on the left as they curve out of sight.

 

In the evening Mom and I took a walk to the west along the Thames River.

 

Part of the walk marched along the well-named Narrow Street.

 

At the far end of the walk, we had a great view back toward Canary Wharf. 

There was even some wildlife.  Now I can include a British Goldfinch to my bird list.  It has a most merry song to go with its cheerful appearance.