Thursday, October 27, 2022
Our flight home isn’t until this evening so that means that after checking out of our hotel we have quite a few hours to fill until we need to get to Heathrow to begin the long trek home.
I suggest we walk to Chelsea partly because I want to but mostly because I want to go to the Chelsea Physic Garden. I know that if I say something like, ‘hey, let’s go to the Chelsea Physic Garden’ he’ll wrinkle his nose but if we come across it in our wanderings he’s more likely to go in for a look…and so it is.
London’s oldest garden, Chelsea Physic Garden has been occupying this 4 acres of green space in Chelsea since 1673.
Originally established by Worshipful Society of Apothecaries as an outdoor classroom to train their apprentices at the Garden apothecaries were trained to identify different plants, and to understand their uses. In fact, until the 1970’s students training to be pharmacists – the modern-day apothecary – studied the uses of plants at the Garden.
We join a guided tour where we learn about the history of the garden and its relevance today, including how much of what we now know as Western medicine and pharmaceuticals have their origins in the world of plants.
Each area of the Garden is planted with a specific focus such as edible plants, medicinal plants and poisonous plants. In the Medicinal plant displays, the history of plant medicine is explored.
The most historic of all the planting layouts are the Dicotyledon Order Beds. These beds are laid out using the Bentham & Hooker Classification system that was popular in the late 1800s. Today this system of classification has been surpassed by the use of DNA sequencing. When a plant has its DNA sequenced, we are able to order plants based on genetic similarities instead of physical similarities. The method of naming and defining botanical species first written by Carolus Linnaeus still survives today.
At this time of the year, there’s little that’s in bloom, it is, however, still beautiful.
Despite his original misgivings, Grant is as fascinated as I am.
We end up spending hours here and need a restorative brew and slice of orange cake from the cafe before leaving. It’s so tranquil in here it’s hard to believe we’re in the middle of Chelsea and that not far up the road is busy Kings Road…but that is exactly where we’re headed.
And that’s a wrap on this trip. From here we have a long flight to Singapore and then another long flight to Sydney followed by a longish wait and then a much shorter flight home to the Sunny Coast. While the long hauls don’t get any easier, it’s so so worth it.
Thanks for following along! Other posts in this series can be found here.
And Anyways... 
What an incredible trip, Jo. Despite the pain of very long haul flights – totally worth it! Thank you for taking us with you.
You’re most welcome.
Despite nothing blooming, you still got amazing photos. LOL – Grant must not read your blog, or he would get wise to your devious meanderings!!
Hilariously he knows I do it, but never knows when to call me on it. Sarah (our daughter) calls it WWJD (what would Jo do).
That does sound so neat! I had never heard the term “physic garden” before so I found this quite interesting.
It was a fascinating place – we learnt loads.
A perfect end to your amazing trip.
Absolutely
Yes, that is my sort of place to explore and yummy cake to finish. What’s not to love.
It’s certainly a fascinating place – nature and history.
What a trip you had! And those gardens and cafe certainly look worthwhile visiting. I’d have found it fascinating too. The medicinal value of plants is an area of great interest to me. FYI – I think your 2023 at the top of the post was probably meant to be 2022. So where’s your next trip Jo? I know it won’t be far away! xo
Thanks for the heads up re the date error – I’ve now corrected it. As for the next trip? Vietnam in October…
Hi Jo – once I figured out that you weren’t saying “psychic” and there were no palm readers and ouiji boards lying around, I totally got it. What an interesting place to wander around while getting educated in a very pleasant way.
What a fabulous wrap-up day of your trip Jo. This looks amazing!
Long haul flights, nay 😦 Beautiful British garden, yay 🙂 I’d never even heard of this place until now – what a treasure and a great way to spend your last day.
it really was a lovely surprise.
That is so gorgeous!! I can see why you had to have the cake – that looks AMAZING! #WWandP
The cake was perfect for the setting…
WOW. The Brits do this history thing so well…and I learn as you find out more too. Loved that Grant enjoyed it as well…a great way to ‘prep’ for the L O N G flight home. So good to see your post this week for Wednesday’s Words and Pics Link Up on Denyse Whelan Blogs. I look forward to you joining us next week too! Denyse.
They do it so well!