We are really excited to be able to share A London Floral with you. It’s a brilliant fold-out guide to London’s best floral spots, be it a bloom filled secret garden, a trend-setting florist or flower packed market.
The guide is a real treat for the eyes, beautifully illustrated by the insanely talented Clover Robin.
Writer Natasha was due to be at Urban Jungle East selling her guides, instead, you can find A London Floral on our virtual market to purchase a copy ready for you to explore London once lockdown is over!
We asked Natasha a few questions about creating the guide…
There are so many great places in your guide, do you have a personal favourite flower-filled space?
That's really hard to say as all the places are so different. As a local, Brockwell Park is particularly close to my heart and never fails to lift my spirits, and I also love the Midnight Apothecary at the Brunel Museum. Sitting atop a beautifully planted tunnel shaft, sipping delicious botanical cocktails and toasting marshmallows is quite a magical experience. I'd never been to the museum before and it's such a hidden gem – the chap who does the tours is just brilliant.
We are spoilt for green & colourful spaces in London, are there other cities in UK or abroad that also have this wealth of places for flower-lovers?
So many places have fabulous spots to discover – it's just a matter of seeking them out. I loved visiting the pocket parks and community gardens of New York, and Hamburg has some beautiful green spaces too. I do have my eye on a few places for another guide, so watch this space!
You are a writer and editor by trade, (for Elle Decoration and Gardens Illustrated, how did you find this writing process compared to your day-to-day work?
The main difference was that I was doing this on top of my day-to-day work so every weekend was spent scooting around parks and florists (I think seven in a day was the record) and then I was writing late in the evenings. I loved every second!
You are clearly a plant-lover, is there a particular person or plant that started your plant-loving life?
Not so much a person or plant but a place – our little garden in Brixton. I'd always longed for a bit of outdoor space but never had one until my early 30s and when I did it was transformative. It was just a patch of concrete and shoulder-high weeds when I started but being able to grow stuff, to see plants develop and, over the years, to create little bits of beauty, however fleeting, got me utterly hooked.
How did the collaboration with the artist Clover Robin come about?
I'd been looking at various illustrators on Instagram which is where I first came across Clover's beautiful painted paper collages. I followed her and then, the very next day, while in the shop at Tate Modern I picked up a book I liked the look of and it was by her! I took it as a sign that it was meant to be and luckily, it was. Her work is so amazing and she really captured the spirit I was hoping to convey.
You can purchase A London Floral here for just £8.50
On Saturday 25th April at 11am you can join Natasha for a special live tour of the Walled Garden at Brockwell Park, one of the guide's featured destinations (and part of her daily exercise), so you can enjoy it vicariously from the comfort of your own home. Join via Instagram Stories @alondonfloral
A London Floral - an illustrated guide
Cocktails illustration by Clover Robin
A London Floral - an illustrated guide