Take your London break off-road and make the most of the mornings with a non-touristy activity.
Come summer in the city, there’s nothing better than browsing a gem-toned flower market in full bloom. Whether you’re a floral fanatic or just want to spend the morningĀ surrounded with heavenly scents and colours, here are three photo-op flower markets to visit across the capital:
1. Columbia Road Flower Market, East London
If you’re staying in a London Travelodge, Columbia Road Flower Market is not to be missed.
Every Sunday between 8am and 3.30pm, Columbia Road in East London is transformed into an oasis as the pavements are packed with native plants and exotic blooms. You can find everything here from fresh-cut roses to 10-foot banana trees, with flowers and plants imported from all over the world.
If your fellow travellers aren’t into fresh flowers then the inviting antique shops, one-off clothing stores and cosy English pubs (some with gardens!) along the same road are the answer. A visit to Treacle will instantly have you drooling over fresh baked goods, while Suck & Chew is a great find for traditional sweet lovers.
2. New Covent Garden Market, South London
The New Covent Garden Market is the largest wholesale flower market in the country and an experience that puts the London tourist trail in the shade (no pun intended).
Pippa Middleton claims this is one of her favourite places to shop, but if you’re going to beat the party planners then be prepared to get up early as the core trading hours for the market are from 4am to 10am, Monday to Saturday.
As NCG is wholesale, you can actually touch, smell and compare prices on most of the blooms. And while you search the stalls, if you’re in need of a breakfast then stop off for hot drinks and breakfast butties at the Village CafĆ©. They should keep you going throughout the morning.
If you’re bookedĀ into our Vauxhall TravelodgeĀ your early start will be more bearable!
3. New Spitalfields Market, East London
If you’re a smart cookie staying in our Stratford TravelodgeĀ forĀ greatĀ Central line access, you’re not just on the same line as the shopping havens of Oxford Street and Notting Hill Gate. New Spitalfields is just a couple of Tube stops away, and, if you’re into your food, then it makes a good stop-off on your way to central London.
Open from midnight to 11am Monday to Saturday, New Spitalfields Market is one of the largest fruit, vegetable and flower markets in the world. Located on a 31-acre site in Leyton (just 10 minutes’ walk from the Tube station), New Spitalfields is the UK’sĀ leading market specializing in exotic fruits and vegetables. As well as selling mountains of beautiful flowers, of course. Just remember that quantities are large, so this is one for looking not buying – unless you’re here with a van.
Established in the 13th century in Spitalfields, just off Brick Lane, the market relocated to its current, more impressive site in 1991. This is where you come to travel the world – from China to Morocco – without leaving the UK. Not for the faint-hearted, here you can see market life in all its vibrancy as hardened bargainers and market callers battle it out to get the best sales and deals.
