Chelsea Park Gardens. My favourite place in London.

 Chelsea Park Gardens. One of London`s best kept secrets. I feel guilty just writing about it.

 As a child my Grandmother would walk me through the roads leading into the Gardens whenever she traveled from Richmond to visit her old school chum, Unity. With tales of her childhood & schooling in Chelsea along the way she would thrill us. We would be taken to visit her old school friend. Unity lived on the far end, near the Kings Road, & she baked the most glorious scones in her kitchen that overlooked the path & front lawns. As her & my Grandmother would talk we were allowed to eat as many scones as we wanted, much more than would normally be the case, had our Mother of been there.

 Grandmother would always allow my Brother & I to run along the forbidden pathway, & roll about on the grass, whether permitting, along side all the beautiful houses, & should anyone give her a disapproving look Unity & my Grandmother would pretend to tell us off, then chuckle to themselves as they went back inside.

 Now, years later, & my Grandmother gone, I always walk through the Gardens on my way into Chelsea. I never let an opportunity pass me by if I ever have a guest with me either. For it would be sacrosanct, & a little selfish, not to share the beauty of the Gardens with my guest. For me today, the gardens are a wonderfully meaningful place. Its hard to overstate just how much they represent in terms of what is good & kind in the world. Like a beacon of light in an otherwise chaotic, confused London, the Gardens give hope, share & enable a person to feel strong again. The gardens heal, & give back to a person their belief in what is important again. Go to the gardens, enjoy its freedom, but be warned, their is magic around there, & you may suddenly find yourself wanting to run along the grass pathways & become a nuisance, just like us.