- Fancy a free haircut on Friday? Check this way…

- The Natural History Museum will stay open late. Jazz? Glass of wine on the Darwin center terrasse? Night walk in the wildlife garden?

- Party @ the V&A Summer Camp. Bombay Sapphire will have a design cardboard bar with stylised cardboard glasses (but real cocktails). A great way to enjoy their late evening.

- You can even go on to the Serpentine pavillion and sleepover… Midnight feast, films and even breakfast in the morning…

- I really must try to find a free Saturday morning and do this guided tour of the Somerset House!

- The extraordinary Chilly Gonzales will be @ the field day on Saturday…

- Latin fever @ the Carnaval del pueblo!

- Even more music with the Croydon festival…

- A classic, but have you done it yet? Buckingham Palace is open for the summer….

- Have a spooky evening…

- Saturday, head for Brick Lane: free cocktails, demo of Urban Art and even a tattoo session! You might also decide to stay around and go bowling in this fab diner… Perfect for Sunday’s festival: bowling but British, music and dancing!

- It’s open air cinema season! A whole programme @ the Somerset House… Act crazy for Mamma Mia and choose funky colours… The Wapping Project proposes a barbecue with your movie…

- You already knew routemasters could ne recycled as veggie restaurants (the root-master is my favourite). Well, one of those goes around, proposing German food!

- Oooooh, as soon as I’m on holiday, I am going to book myself one of those fab afternoon teas… Now, chocolate or pink? (vegan and gluten free versions are proposed)

-What about the kids? Little ones will love the teddies picnic @ Covent Garden on Saturday… Teenagers will much prefer to go to the underage festival!

- Give! Exchange!

Pssst, heads up for next week! There will be a maze @ Trafalgar (with dragons and Chinese cooking on Tuesday). And Selfridge’s is to open their Xmas shop too…

Hey, anyone has a great address for a roof terrasse for cocktails?

You have just stepped into the oldest botanical garden in London. Founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothicaries, it was meany both as medicinal and educational for the novices. The choice was meticulous -  the area was already know for its orchards and its microclimate. You will find the lagest olive tree in  Britain here!

Quite important for the time was the proximity of the Thames. Roads were unsafe and the river provided the quickest way to travel.  Hundreds of smalls boats would have travelled up and down but if you were rich, you would have had your own barge.

Little by little, exganges of seeds and plants were arranged with other famous botanical gardens. Quite a collection here,  I tell you! Although this is now open to visitors, it still remains of scientific importance, helping researchers to collect plants for remedies (even members of the public can leave their own list) and participating in programs with great names such as the Eden Project or the Natural History Museum.

Flowerbeds alternate between elegants  squares or a little meadow crazyness. You’ll glimpse the triangular roofs of houses around the place behind a sunflower or a clematis…

The cafe is quite a place – the locals (golden wallet, smart clothes and all) do love to lunch here on a Sunday. You’ll get to see trays with 5 Cokes and a bottle of champagne! Do book in advance if you want a table. Most people do settle for the wooden benches of the lawn. The food’s great – worth a first class gastropub (duck confit with truffled mash! The mixed salads are a must -  creative and filling). Lavender scones are also found at tea-time… Many families do come with a picnic hamper and settle under the trees. Children love to run around, gathering fallen leaves.

Do take the kids to the big pond! Frogs and tadpoles hide under the lilies. Brown and blue dragonflies dance around, unsure where to stop, bees jump from a water flower to another… Even water snails make an appearance! A fascinating nature lesson for the whole family.

It feels like Beatrix Potter’s garden somehow. Surely Peter Rabbit will appear in the vegetable patch, between the tiger nasturniums and the blushing cherry tomatoes?

Chelsea Physics Gardens
66 Royal Hospital Road
Chelsea
London SW3 4HS

Fee: £8/adult, £5/child over 5 years of age
Alternatively, try the Friends of the garden card! £30 for the year, you and a friend can go free each time: it will take only two visits to get the most of your money.

Pssst: don’t forget to say hi to the Chelsea pensioners! You’ll even find an elephant there. Feeling hungry? Well Partridge’s just a stone away from the modern art gallery Saatchi, always worth a visit.

- Carnaval day on Southbank tomorrow!

- Love latin dances? Salsa, Cuban, columbian music? Go shake these calories out @ Hyde park for the World City Music Village Festival!

- Hey, it’s also the Big World Dance all over town on Saturday, with the final in Trafalgar square…

- The Hyde and Seek festival is back! It’s a fab occasions to play extraodinary games on Southbank. Bring all your friends!

- Did you have to tighten the belt on your fashion budget? Try the big swish this Saturday a giant clothes swap event!

- Why not learn graffiti art? Or a unicycle workshop?

- Stamp your week-end with something a little different. An old post-office in Hackney turns into an exhibition space: artists such as Tracy Emyn were inspired by parcel, letters, iconic stamps…

- Art is not your cup of tea? Try this show on coffee cups… Some have been decorated by Coppola, Fellini, Koons, Almodovar…

- Waterloo turned into a stage? Yes, with The Railway Children show (with a real train!)

- Missed the Royal Chelsea Flower show? Don’t worry -  Hampton Courts gets flowered similarly each summer…

- Add a pinch of urban nature…

- Can’t travel but feel like a change? Well, try Bastille Day @ Battersea Park this Sunday: French market, petanque, retro French music (with dancing and Lido girls)… Now, where have you put that beret of yours?

- Want more summer festivals? Music, shopping, nice food stalls? Try the Ealing one… or maybe Levisham? Even Islington joins in!

You’ll find me in a lavender field… and discovering the new Serpentine pavillion (by a French Architect, by the way)… How about you?

End of June is the best time too – the roses are in full bloom. Splendid notes of orange, pepper, vanilla are in the air. Some are double, shy, bright purple, freckled, others blousy and seem to be opening very slowly like The Little Prince’s one.

The gardens are narrow but go on for ever. Narrow paths serpent through them, a few benches, lovely statues, an arched tunnel coverel with white blooms…

The best place to read this summer’s romantic novel!

Rose Garden
Hyde Park
London W1

Free

A great escape to the countryside is to drive down to Mottisfont Abbey – what a fab collection of roses they have there! (a few pics here)

- Covent Garden is 180  years old.  There will be plenty of fun planned, workshop for kids, a giant cupcake to be shared (on Friday), and even a huge giant sculpture enclosing prizes which you will have to grab as it melts…

- Be amazed by the Royal Academy Summer exhibition…

- Try an unknown museum -  the house of a Huguenot who had taken refuge in London. There even is a hidde3n synagogue in the basement…

- Gourmets will rush to the Taste of London festival to go around the food stalls and try the mini-menus proposed by famous restaurants. although I have to say the December edition had left me pretty disappointed.

- Join Tottenham Carnival!

- Victoria Park prefers to combine circus, art, music, cakes and village fete….

- Little girls will just love the fairy party @ Fulham Palace on Sunday afternoon…

- Like modern graphism? Try this exhibition of 20th century posters…

- It’s music day! On Exhibition  Rd, museums are dancing in joy with workshops for kids and plenty of concerts…

- Tea dances: traditional and boring? Well, this one will also play rap and fusion!

- Fancy a musical instead? Extracts of the most famous West end ones will be presented @ Leicester Square (and for free!) this week-end

You’ll find me… dancing @ Koko’s on Friday for Arnos’ concert… Building sandcastle on Southbank’s urban beach… Discovering the new Hayward’s exhibition which promises to be quite a show… And celebrating Father’s day in style @  Gaucho. What are your secret plans?

I tend to stop @ Pizza Express – there’s always one on your way. I like their crispy Leggera option with its salad, the coffee served with a miniatured dessert rather than a full calory one….

However go as a family and the bill rises quite fast.

My friend Juliette advised me to try Ecco instead. No deco, cheap but-oh-so-tasty. One thing I have learnt is always to trust her – she gets it right every time!

The place is a 10mn walk from Covent Garden, on your way to the British Museum. True, it doesn’t look like much – you would walk by not even noticing it. A few tables inside, pretty basis deco. The staff however is welcoming and really friendly.

And look at the price: from £3.50 an 11′ pizza?!

I select a veggie option (tomato sauce, mozzarella, shallots, peppers, mushrooms. £4.75 to eat in -  £4 to take out) and watch the chef prepare the dough. Whithin 10 minutes it is on my table. Wow. It is huge. Lots of tomato sauce, lots of cheese, lots of everything. At that point you still hesitate: how can it be that great value AND good? I have no idea how they make any profit, but it definitely is fab. You actually taste the fresh ingredients, the real basil leaves which I can’t recall having done for a loooong time unless I have made it myself at home. The dough is just right, filling and a bit crispy on the side. You thought you just couldn’t handle the whole thing but you just couldn’t stop biting into it again, you know just to check it was as good as you thought. There are only crumbs left…

Definitely where I will go around Covent Garden. The kind of pizza you want to share with your best friend while having a good chat though I’d probably get some cupcakes from Ella’s first, order the pizza to take away and head for Embankment gardens if the weather’s sunny.

Sincerely cannot wait to have another one!

Ecco
186 Drury Lane
London WC2B 5RU

Pssst: for a fun pizza, why not try a beetroot one? Or why not this new restaurant which proposes a corn-crust?

- Wish the Queen a happy birthday: every year a special parade takes place but do arrive early!

- Vintage and retro shopping? Try the Cabbages and Frocks market every Saturday…

- Enter the Matrix @ the White Cube gallery…

- Have a free ice cream @ Covent Garden on Saturday

- Go for a magical and musical bus ride on Saturday -  it’s all part of  Spitafields’ music festival!

- Love knitting? Give up pub-crawls for a knit crawl for a change…

- It’s summer fair time! Try Marylebone for a farmers’ market, kids’ games and music, of course! There’s also a summer pop-up bar around there….

- Use forgotten empty spaces in London? The answer in pictures…

- Barbican plays it mysterious, surreal and full of desires…

- Meet Marvel’s superheroes @ Mme Tussaud…

- Get a new skin @ the Wallace collection…

- There’s still time to grab a ticket for the Hampton Court Festival – always with a fireworks finale…

- Decide to take a day off next week for a £3 lunch!

- This way for a brand new look on London….

- England, shocking? @ the Tate only…

You’ll find me… all around London, discovering secret gardens open specially for the Open Garden Square week-end…

What an extraordinary way to dress!

The coastermongers used these brilliant buttons on their clothes. Henry Croft, brought up in an orphanage close to St Pancras started to collect the lost ones he found on the floor. Then upgraded his own clothes with them, including his hat and wooden stick. He was nicknamed the Pearly King. Tis was in 1875 -  a real success: people would stop him, give him a coin or two which he then gave to his childhood orphanage to help other kids out. Little by little, associations, hospitals asked him to raise money for them. The demand was so great that he had to recruit other Pearly Kings and Queens.

These days, the tradition continues and they support a cause or the other. Oftenn, the suit is transmitted wihtin the family. I often see them @ Covent Garden, always smiling and ready to pose for a picture.

Look at the designs closely. Each circle is a one penny size and each sign has a meaning. Some are  logical: a horseshoe means luck, a dove peace. Others are more difficult to guess: an anchor would be hope, a flower pot a costermonger…

There is an official parade the first sunday of October – can’t wait to see this royal walk!

Have a look on their website for more pictures. Or watch Mary Poppins again, they do appear in the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

At Greenwich, this week-end, a Pearly King had brought his colourful royal coach…

- Yummy times! Head for the Real Food festival for a gourmet experience. Plenty to taste, countless demonstrations! Great for kids too with a butter churning workshop, milking demonstrations, animals to pet…

- Fairtrade fan? Join the party! Film and music also are part of the fun.

- if you love vintage clothes,  head for Clerkenwell!

- Add a little elegance to your week-end with the Grace Kelly exhibition @ the V&A…

- Take the boys (whichever age, grown ups included) to dream @ the Toy boat exhibition @ the Greenwich Maritime Museum. Adorable. There’s a pond whithin Greenwich Park where you can rent a small boat and go round or just bring your own toys to float… And why not stop @ the Greenwich food market for a bite?

- Don’t miss the Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet festival. We went last year and had a fab time with the non-stop Punch and Judy shows and admiring the collection of puppets… A few pictures this way (sorry, the text will be in French though).

- Why not a pics exhibition? Atlas presents faces of our times – splendid photos of famous people that marked our century. Albert Einstein, the Queen Elicabeth II, Picasso…

- if you like knowing all the tricks, try the I remember you exhibition, a film in which Keira Knightley plays. You’ll get to see how the scenes were prepared.

- Dance in the streets! Well at least, Carnaby Street…

- Finish with a hit and try these cocktails inspired by the Chelsea Flower Show…

You’ll find me hunting elephants in Green Park. I can’t wait to see the 200 Morris Dancers on Trafalgar Square on Saturday. What are your plans?

Classical and original guidebooks,  funny social studies (try the ones on the French for a good laugh. Trust me, I am French), detailed maps for any country you might think of… You will fill your bag a lot more than you expected!

In 1852, Edward Stanfords thought hard about the British colonies expansion: travels were the future, he was convinced. To be successful, you need to be the best and to prove different. He got huge maps of various continents printed -  gentlemen loved to show off those in their reading room – even better, he ordered the first precise map of London (though it is only in 1966 that the first A to Z, with its complete listing of streets, was published. Did you know a woman was behind it all? Read Mrs P’s journey to learn more!). He was applauded by the Royal Geographical Society for it.

From 1947 on, the company focuses on foreign mapping. They act as pionneers at the type. You name it, they have it: topographic, thermic, geological, hiostorical, nautical… Their reputation is a success in no time. Even Sherlock Holmes in The Hounds of Baskerville buys a map from them! The public is more and more eager to travel -  a huge market opens., whether for generic or out-of-the-way travel books.

Since 2001, you can also find a great range of travel fiction, travel novels, travel stories of all kind. Keep an eye on their website for travel conferences too.

The third floor are a real treasure chest, the decoration surfs on the travel theme too. Oh, and this is the perfect place to find a travel or camping gadget, and gifts for junior or experienced travelers!

Stanfords
12-14 Long Acre
Covent Garden
London WC2E 9LP

What’s around?
- Cocktails!
- Yummy frozen yogurts!
- A cute retro looking sweets shop…
- My favourite cupcakes in all of London…
- A little haven of peace…