Ambler Road

Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park

If I could live anywhere in London, it would be Ambler Road. Who wouldn’t want to live on a street that is home to its very own topiary elephants (and a baby owl)? There’s also a shop around the corner that only sells naan breads. I just love that idea.

The street also has the perfect mix of ages and socio-ethnic groups, and thanks to Naomi Schillinger and her band of Blackstock Triangle Gardeners, some great front gardens and tree pits. The sense of community as a result of all this greenfingered activity is astounding and if I hadn’t witnessed it for myself many times, I don’t think I’d really believe it.

Ambler Road isn’t manicured in a Britain in Bloom way – you won’t find neat bedding displays or immaculate lawns. What you will find is a community veg patch, crops in dumpster bags and some small front gardens that are cleverly planted.

Robert’s garden (below) was tarted up thanks to an Islington Council grant – a few years back they were trying to encourage people to plant up, not pave over, their front gardens. Needless to say there’s no funding available nowadays, but quite a few gardens were tarted up as a result.

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Robert’s neighbours’ garden (below) is filled almost exclusively with veg in dumpster bags. I’ve always thought dumpster bags were a bit unsightly, but these are packed closely together. The rhubarb makes a great centrepiece.

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But back to the topiary. The elephants came about because the formerly overgrown hedge was a magnet for antisocial behaviour – you can read the full story at Out of My Shed. The aptly named Tim Bushe created them – here’s more of his handiwork.

 

5 thoughts on “Ambler Road”

  1. I remember seeing the elephants over the shoulder of wellywoman’s reader last year from Naomi’s post, and loved them. Not so long back we went to a garden outside Brecon and saw some very similar ones. I guess from the same artist.

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  2. These are so brilliant and wonderfully silly! I used to have a friend who lived in Ambler Road several decades ago and there was nothing like that there then. They would make me smile every time I passed them.

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  3. Hello, belatedly, Veronica, and thank you for spreading the word about the Blackstock Triangle Gardeners and Bushe’s Bushes. We do love our neighbourhood, and we would be delighted if you moved here!

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