Columbia Road Flower Market

Now here is a sneaky interlude. A bit of colour for your reading this week.  I was in London last weekend and I managed to meet up with dear friends at the Columbia Road flower market.

I needed a good long walk and as the weather was winter perfect, I set off from Primrose Hill and worked my way through town.

It’s a scenic route – but as it takes two hours to get all the way over to the east, I am obliged to take a few main roads like Grey’s Inn Road and Clerkenwell.

And there is the noisy maw of Old Street to negotiate. But it always reinforces the delight there is to be had in living in the countryside. Give me birdsong over roaring trucks any day.

Columbia Road is not a large market, but it is located in a great street in the east end of London and there is plenty to enjoy once you have battled along the street full of shoppers and flower sellers. 

Anne and Ivan came over from Battersea and we met up at the far end of the market.  Thank goodness for mobile phones. How on earth did we find each other in crowds before their invention?

I had spotted the eucalyptus leaves I wanted to buy, and Anne was keen on a huge bunch of tulips. And the white lilac that was just out.  She was fortunate to find some flowers with long stems; they will make a dramatic display and the scent will be heavenly.

But first we needed to sit down and catch up on all the news. Even flowers have to wait when you have close friends to speak to and hear all about their Christmas and New Year.

But it was definitely a treat to combine the social and the visual. And my eucalyptus leaves look stunning in their London setting.