Vicky Moves To London: Chelsea Physics Garden

This is going to be a lengthy and picture heavy post. My only excuse for it is that I had just gotten a new camera and that the pictures had turned out pretty. This is a hidden gem in London and I only discovered it because there was a tiny sign that said "Public Entrance" during the many times that I have walked up this road near my place to King's Road. This was a bit like Alice falling down the rabbit hole and I followed the signs to this place. It actually turned out to be my wonderland (forgive the pun). The Chelsea Physics Garden is a really nice garden with even better food, but more on that later. I turned up in time for the free guided tour and then proceeded to do the Asian tourist thing - take SHIT loads of pictures of everything and anything. I did manage to find out some interesting facts from the really quaint British guide. It turns out that the garden was founded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries for its apprentices to study the medicinal qualities of plants. Even more fascinating was the fact Dr. Hans Sloane, (a bloody rich doctor back in the day which Sloane Square is named after) leased the land to the Society of Apothecaries for £5 a year in perpetuity. Obviously, the question is how did a damn doctor become so rich? It turned out that he was pretty much the original IT doctor - he marketed chocolate to the locals by mixing it with milk and that netted him a tidy sum and by the 19th Century, the Cadbury brothers were selling tins of his version; and he saw the rich and famous celebrities of his time AKA the royals. That was a huge sidetrack from the garden, but if you do visit, you should definitely go for the tour and go for the CAKES after that. Those were a revelation. I have always watched food shows in which people like Anthony Bourdain go on about how this or that food is the best that they have ever tasted. Most of the cakes were sold out by the time I made it to the canteen, so I plumped for the one that had less left (the Singaporean in me assumes that the one that sells out more quickly is always the better choice) and that was a zucchini and almond cake. My word! BEST CAKE EVER! I had a food epiphany. It turns out that volunteers make the cake using ingredients from the garden everyday. It was utter perfection. I was sipping my tea, nibbling my cake, reading my book and whatsapping friends on a lovely summer day. It was the modern day equivalent of nirvana. The entrance charge is not cheap, but I would urge you to go, purely for the cakes which are dirt cheap. They only cost 2 pounds.