THE GARDEN MUSEUM is next door to London’s Tudor Lambeth Palace and close to Lambeth Bridge. The museum has its own gardens – one within an enclosed courtyard, and the other, containing several glasshouses, outside the museum. Next to the latter, there is yet another garden, the St Mary’s Gardens. This slender garden, filled with a wonderful range of flowering plants, was created in 1932, and improved considerably in 2008.

In the centre of this almost rectangular garden there is a circular water feature, decorated with mosaics. This is surrounded by several smaller mosaics, each one depicting fruits and animals. From the northern end of the garden, you can catch glimpses of the Houses of Parliament and the towers associated with them.

Flanked by the busy Lambeth Road that leads to Lambeth Bridge, this garden is a pleasant oasis in one of the most traffic-infested parts of London.