NOTES from. near and far // May outings

Looking for a nature fix? Here are just some of the wild, green, and inspiring spaces, where I recently got mine including the Olympic Park, Forest Gate Community Garden, and Hackney Herbal

Loving getting out and about a bit more and reporting back on green spaces near and far. It’s so important to find places where you can connect with nature, whether you have a garden or not, as I recently found when I was about to lose my own green space. Take nothing for granted and find places to commune for body and mind.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the International Quarter, Stratford, London E20

To have this Olympic legacy on our doorstep is such a gift, a combination of award-winning landscape design, maturing planting, and new areas being developed all the time contributing to a cohesive site of relaxing green space, seasonal interest and general excitement about what lays ahead. Walking or cycling from our side of the Park, so coming in from Westfield, there is a new stretch of design by Tom Massey in the form of a Mobile Orchard, which includes large containers housing native fruit trees and an understory of herbs. Travelling across the bridge just after the Aquatic Centre takes you directly to the front of the stadium where masts of birch trees create a screen for the kids’ fountains – to the left North American inspired planting, to the right more exotic specimens from Asia and the Southern Hemisphere, part of the 2012 Gardens. Further along are borders of tall perennials, grasses and black elder trees creating what must be the most elegantly planted kids’ playground area I’ve ever seen (bar the Hepworth Museum, when the playground was still there). It goes on and on with a carpet of wildflowers by Carpenter’s Lock through to lush green waterfront schemes along the canal to Leytonstone, Walthamstow and Hackney Wick, the latter by way of the London Blossom Garden, a memorial to those who lost their lives during the Coronavirus pandemic. Watching the larger trees grow through their Olympic Hoops is testament to the incredible planning that went into this intricate project. I’ve been many times, with many hats on – with kids and friends, and for work – but there’s always something new to explore. May it continue to ripen and be inclusive.

Forest Gate Community Garden, 136 Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, London E7 9AR

I’m proud to have contributed a small bit to the establishment of one of Forest Gate’s most important community features, a garden built on derelict land that is now coming up to nearly 10 years old. It abutted a building site for many years, much like the one it was built on but is now sheltered on one side by a new build that incorporates courtyard gardens of its own. They are done well for the people who live there but this is a communal, sun-trap of a paradise that is layered with shrubs, wildflowers, ornamentals, herbs, edible fruits, and pond life among shelters and seating areas made from donated or recycled goods. I last visited for their monthly plant sale where I came back with about 20 plants for under £15, plus their resident gardener, Stephen Mason was delivering an organic container planting workshop with wildlife knowledge to boot that had at least 30 people peering in. Myanah, Kevin, Derek, Lisa, Kerena and countless volunteers work their gardening gloves to the bone delivering a space that is accessible for and welcome to everyone, from Forest Gate residents to refugees, and every time I see giant scabious or a Californian poppy – just two of the beautiful, heart-warming plants that grow there – I am so glad that it exists. During a time when I was leaving a garden, it was a small but vital sanctuary to me. Particularly touching is the recently planted herb garden dedicated to the wonderful, sadly late Sophie Rigg, who managed the garden for over 6 years. She is missed, but very much still present here.

Hackney Herbal, Trowbridge Road, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LD

I’ve been meaning to visit this garden for so long but life has a habit of getting in the way. Finally made it to one of their plant sales last weekend and was again reminded of how important such spaces are to the local community but also those who love plants and herbs and want to connect with similarly minded people. Founded by permaculturist Nat Mady to connect people in the city with nature and inspire wellbeing through herbs and related workshops and events, every corner is populated – and helpfully labelled – with common and heritage herbs from the elder and birch in respective corners to an impressively large cloud of rosemary and similarly prolific understory of woodruff. I’ll definitely be back for more open days, plant sales, and workshops (when the space is open to the public) but also as the perfect final destination for a bike ride across the Olympic Park to the graffiti-ed walls of Hackney Wick (an old stomping ground in the late 90s when I used to run like lightning in the early hours from house party to the then manky tube). Just round the corner is another herb-filled space that they tend – this one open daily 9am–4pm – which also houses the Thingy Cafe serving a range of drinks including Hackney Herbal’s own brand of organically grown herbal tea blends.