Monday 20 July 2020

A Trip to Columbia Road Flower Market

On Sunday, for some reason, I woke up feeling a bit low. Not sure why, I guess the rollercoaster of lockdown still affects you even when you are back at work.  That's what I put it down to anyway.

As a consequence, OH and I decided to do something different. He is normally cycling on a Sunday morning, but this particular weekend he'd cycled on Saturday instead, so it was unusual for us to be able to go out and do something together and we decided to visit Columbia Road Flower Market in East London.

Twenty years ago, we lived quite close to the market and went there a lot, but in recent years we've hardly ever visited it, as it gets very crowded.  We sometimes go when visitors come to stay, but otherwise seldom bother.  However, I had read recently, that it had re-opened post Covid, with a new one way system to facilitate social distancing and was quieter due to the few tourists currently in London, which helped to convince me to give it a try.

It was quite busy by the time we got there at 10.30am, but it was nice to have a walk around. There were only stalls on one side of the street, which made it easier to navigate the market and most people stuck to the one way system.  Social distancing wasn't great as people did gather around some of the stalls, but it was okay. There was a great selection of indoor and outdoor plants, plus flowers and herbs, etc.

I managed to buy a couple more fern plants for the end of the garden. These were much less expensive than the ones I'd bought at the garden centre the other week (£7 less each!), as I got two for £10. These are the ones I bought:



OH also treated me to a ceramic pot for my solar water fountain.  We chose this turquoise fish scale design pot, which we both thought was very pretty. I still need some large pebbles to put in the bottom, but it is relaxing to watch it from the kitchen table.



Anyway, here's a few pictures from the market:






I might visit again before things get really busy, as the prices of the plants sold there are very reasonable.

We finished our morning by getting a bagel from the best bagel shop in East London on Brick Lane. A real trip down memory lane that really helped to lift my mood.

2 comments:

  1. Love that pot!! What a great deal on the ferns.

    I notice a few people wearing masks, good for them.

    God bless.

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  2. Good that you got out to the market, and it looks really interesting too. I have not ventured out to a market yet, but you have given me some inspiration. I think I have got too settled down at home, but it has been really cold and wet here which doesn't make me feel like going out. Take care and stay safe.

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