London: Tea Time in Wonderland

Close to Tower Bridge hides historical quarters. Tourists rarely fo further and prefer to cross over to the Tower. Shad Thames, I have to say is a very quiet place.

But the stories it could tell! You seee, in Victorian times, the biggest complex of warehouses was built here to welcome merchandises from the colonies: tea, coffee, spices… were brought from the ships to the buildings around or from the same buildings towards different ships and new destinations.Imagine the noise, the mix of languages, the sailors, the horses. Streets and yards were names logically: Cayenne Court, Tea Trade Wharf…

In the 20th century, the harbour proves too small for the increasing trade: new warehouses are built further east. The neighbourhood falls back into silence. It will have to wait for the 1980ies to be in fashion again: entrepreneurs invest in the now empty buildings and transform them in smart, expensive flats. Some overlook the Thames, have a great view on the bridge or the City… Others have kept their original windows – small ones which temper the view a little. Upmarket restaurants flourish along the Thames, the Design Museum is built.

From its historical past remain a few signs: names on the brick walls, a cobbled street, winches…

… and this:

These sky passages were used to roll barrels from the Butlers Wharf Building to the Cardamom one. These days, they belonged to the flats nearby and are used as extended balconies.

Suspended in time somehow.

Je n’ai pas vraiment le temps,  je vous avoue, d’entretenir un jardin. Je me contente de domestiquer la jungle, j’aime finalement, ce cote un peu sauvage.

Pour partager un brin de nature avec ma fille, j’avais decide, un automne, de planter des bulbes. 400. Lles ecureuils les ont deracines, devores.
Le blaireau a fini de deraciner les jeunes plants au printemps.
Enfer et damnation, comme dirait l’autre…

Du coup, j’explique les fleurs dans d’autres jardins a la petite.

Mais surtout, je l’amene tous les ans cueuillir des fraises et des framboises chez Garson’s, une ferme PYO (comprenez Pick Your Own).

Les enfants a-do-rent. Les parents viennent meme avec leur paniers de picnic… Mais surtout, quelle belle activite d’ete, quelle belle lecon de nature! Pas du tout fruits a la base, c’est grace a cette sortie que L*A demande voire reclame! fraises et framboises…

Evidemment, Garson’s propose d’autres recoltes: courgettes, choux, carottes, epinards, mange-tout… groseilles, myrtilles… et meme des fleurs a couper, dahlias, tournesols, pois de senteur.  De quoi remplir largement le coffre de sa voiture…

Rajoutez a cela, en juin, une collection d’epouvantails fabriques par des ecoles et association locales… Et voila une apres-midi passee a toute allure.

Sachez qu’a l’entree se trouve un garden centre et une cafeteria.

Mais surtout, un farm shop, mon arret prefere, qui regorge de fruits et legumes locaux, bien entendu. Mais egalement de boissons irresistibles… de produits extraordinaires…

et d’une belle gamme de produits americains.

Un coffre aux tresors au milieu des champs!

Garson’s
Fontley Road,
Titchfield, Hampshire,
PO15 6QX
www.garsons.co.uk
(une autre adresse dans le Surrey / another address in Surrey)

I’m not a green-fingered person. Nor do I feel, after a whole week locked at work, like digging the garden.  I tame the jungle, though and like the slightly wild feeling of it.

I wanted to explain natureto my daughter, share this with her. I decided, one autumn, to plant bulbs. 400 bulbs.  Squirrels ate them.
Whichever plant survived was digged up in spring by the local badger.
I invented a mix f French and English swear words. Anger fuels imagination.

Since then, I explain flowers and trees in other gardens…

But my favourite time of the year is summer, when I can take her to pick up strawberries and raspberries at Garson’s Pick Your Owm  farm.

Children LOVE it. Parents come with a picnic, make a day of it. What a perfect day out, and what a lesson in nature little things…

Do you know, my daughter always had refused to eat raw fruit. Until we came here. Picking was fun and picking led to tasting and tasting led to liking. She now asks for strawberries and raspberries. I have to hide mine!

Of course, you’ll find other crops at Garson’s: cabbages, courgettes, spinach, beetroot, beans… redcurrant, blackberries… Even flowers, dahlias, sweet peas… Enough to fill your day and your car boot.

Even, every June, a scarecrow competition with puppets made by the local schools…

Close to the entrance you will alos find a huge garden center and a restaurant.

But my favourite stop is at the farm shop, full of local fruit, vegetables, dairy… But also cool drinks…

… and extraordinary products, including a great range of American goodies.

A fascinating place among the fields…

Each year takes place the traditional boat race between Cambridge  and Oxford. An institution! 2009 actually shows the 155th one. It’s a question of honour for both universities.

Others, like the Spitafiled City Farm, much prefer a fun version of it…. and are launching the Cambridge vs Oxford Goat Race. Elementary, my dear Watson!

Amazing how many people actually came to what I was expecting to be a small event. Many actually decided to play the game, worked on their looks, mad it a little Ascott like.

Others, like me, will bet on a winner. Did the length and elegance play a role in choosing them?

I can already hear some whispering Poor things! How cruel! Well, believe me: had you seen Oxford make the orgnaizers go round and round, you would have been reassured. That part was actually as good as the race itself!

But now pressure is mounting. The crows is getting enthusisatic. the goast are racing, the cameras are flashing, people are clapping.

Cambridge, no matter how small she looked, will win by a mile. In real life, Oxford 9counting a world champion in its team) wins the race.

The race was over in less than a minute (17 or so on the Thames) but the atmosphere was so very Alice in Wonderland! I’ll be there next year, with my teapot, and will play the Mad Hatter.

Spitalfields City Farm
Buxton Street
London E1 5AR

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