Barbican Conservatory

Barbican Conservatory is the second biggest conservatory in London forming an oasis of a tropical paradise with over 2,000 species of plants from all around the world.

The conservatory are not only home to the plants as you can also find exotic fishes willowing about in a pond.

It almost seems like an actual jungle but is punctuated by the drab concrete designs, which adds on to the overall effect of the wonderful sights within the presence that you can lose yourself in as you explore.

The Arid House which is above on a landing is a greenhouse within a greenhouse where you can find some of the more plants in clusters on the left and right and hung baskets slithering down from the ceiling.

It is open for most Sundays and occasionally on any other weekday so check the website to find out when it is opened before making your way there.

#BarbicanConservatory

Turbine Festival 2015

The Turbine Festival held at the Turbine Hall in Tate Modern was held this year on Saturday 25 July 2015. The Festival is subtitled “One City One Day” bringing audio-visual experience to anyone that attends.

The event encourages everyone to get involved with the art installations, workshops and activities on display. The day included photography, music, art and technology as they explore different ways to explore different facets of experiencing from using the Oculus to transport to another virtual plane to DJing on a makeshift art turntable to getting your hair styled completely different to what you came in with.

What I particularly liked was FREE2Dance created by Evan Ifekoya where you are given headphones and encouraged to dance like no one is watching. Which I do most of the times anyway!

Live performances come from the main stage set up right at the end of Turbine Hall and I managed to catch Juneau Projects performing as they used their electronic instruments built from perspex, arcade machines and drum triggers.

They’ve created the My Culture Museum as an exhibition where anyone can submit an image of each individual’s culture representation, which could be anything that they wanted it to be. The image would then be displayed in the My Culture Museum exhibition.

#TurbineFestival

Eid Festival 2015

The Eid Festival is the Mayor of London event to mark the end of Ramadan which took place at Trafalgar Square. The event took place on Saturday 25 July 2015 between the times of 12:00 to 18:00.

The event itself was really busy drawing huge crowds left, right and centre. The event had cuisines from around the world covering Malaysia, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia. The main stage sees performances from live acts with music promoting love and peace.

There are activities for children to get stuck in with such as creating Eid cards as well as creating designs from stamps.

#EidLDN

St Dunstan in the East

St Dunstan in the East is what used to be a church but gone through a lot of change running through two significant historical events, being the Great Fire of London and the Blitz. Now, it is a hotspot for city workers’ lunch breaks during the weekdays and offers a soothing and calming atmosphere during the weekends.

St Dunstan in the East was built as an Anglo-Saxon church built at around 1100 as and it was not until 1391, when a new south aisle was added in. It was later repaired in 1631.

In 1666, the Great Fire of London breezed through it, but rather than having it rebuilt, it was patched up in 1671. The west section of the garden held the graves of the victims who died in the Great Fire of London, where it now resides with Wisteria vines and Azalea trees.

Christopher Wren added in a steeple and tower which was constructed from 1695 to 1701. It is said that the builders dared not remove the scaffolding away in fear of it collapsing. Despite their concerns, Wren took faith in his own design and had his daughter lay under the scaffold. All the scaffolding were removed, so I’m guessing Wren’s daughter survived as the church tower still stands there today.

In 1941, the church was destroyed in the Blitz, but the church tower and all the outer wall survived leaving a hollow church with no roof. During the re-organisation of the church following World War II, the City of London Corporation decided that they were not going to rebuild it but turn what was left into a public garden.

Having been there several times, I completely enjoy what the garden has to offer each time, especially during the weekends when it is completely quiet. The garden is secluded by surrounding offices obscuring the splendour of evergreen in the middle of it, making it a very out-of-the-way garden, which many won’t come across. On the weekends, the park is completely quiet giving many of a chance to sit down and enjoy the tranquillity of the greenery and lovely water features of the fountain. The park is home to many stunningly beautiful flowers of Wisteria, Magnolia and climbing roses in flower beds and clambering on to the church walls.