Secret gardens part 2: National Theatre

South Bank

I’ve waxed lyrical about the  Queen Elizabeth Hall roof garden a couple of times on this blog, and that definitely qualifies as a secret garden. But there’s a new kid on the block now too, a few hundred metres away: the garden outside the National Theatre.

These grasses had caught my eye several times from Waterloo Bridge, but I couldn’t figure out exactly where they were. I eventually got up close and personal with them last week (they’re a couple of floors up, near one of the Olivier theatre’s bars). They’re planted in large blocks, intercut with rows of box, and their buff colouring complements Denis Lasdun’s concrete perfectly.

And you know what? On a balmy summer’s evening, most of the bar tables were empty. So if you want a quiet drink in London with a view to die for, you know where to go.

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