Throwback - Columbia Road Flower Market

August 28, 2014

Throwback Thursday's will feature a range of days out or any kind of event not suitable for Makeover Mondays, Travelling Tuesdays, Wedding Wednesday's or Foodie Friday's. I guess it's a miscellaneous day but seeing as I've got a lot of catching up to do on this blog I'll call it Throwback Thursday honouring my love of Instagram. 


First up is a post on Columbia Road Flower Market, one of my favourite places to visit at least once per season since we lived in London. Every Sunday, rain or shine from about 8am to 2pm, Columbia Road in East London fills up with stalls selling fresh flowers and plants. They're amazing value, quality, such a great selection and always such a lovely experience compared to buying your blooms for the week from the supermarket if you love flowers as much as I do.



We tend to get up fairly early and drive in to London, it's about forty minutes from us and an easy drive on a Sunday compared to the crazy traffic in the week. Parking is free on Sunday's which is a bonus. It gets fairly busy after about 10am so if you can get there early but if you go at the end of their day you can get some bargains depending on what stock is left. 


It's gorgeous in every season, starting with colourful bulbs like tulips, daffodils and ranunculus in the Springtime followed by my favourite peony season around May/June time, with other favourites like alliums and delphiniums. Then spectacular sunflowers and hydrangeas at the end of summer moving into autumn. We've made it our annual tradition to go at Christmas time to buy mistletoe and holly wreaths which will be in a separate post. Old favourites like roses are flown in and are available all year round.




The stallholders are all traditional cockney's with good banter and there are vintage shops and mini markets to browse around in the surrounding streets. Make sure you walk down the side streets for art galleries, random pop-ups, cool coffee stalls and the Lily Vanilli bakery. Last week when we visited there was a whole corner shop project filled with realistic knitted felt products which was quite spectacular. 


We tend to make a day of it and drive on to somewhere else in London after strolling around the market. Last Christmas, when buying our wreath we had brunch at Duck and Waffle nearby in the City, in the Spring we went to Islington for lunch and shopping, in June we stopped at Hampstead Heath for a walk in the sunshine and just last weekend we headed into the West End for shopping and lunch at Wahaca. 


We've learnt to take a bucket full of water in the car with us, especially if it's hot to keep any purchases fresh until we can get them home.






Floral Heaven. 

A lovely Sunday morning out and then you've got yourself beautiful blooms to brighten up the house for the week ahead <3



You can find more info and travel directions here.

R <3 xx

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4 comments

  1. Now that is a gorgeous place to be! Does it happen all year round? My daughter and I are coming tot he UK in March and would love to visit the market while we are there.

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    1. It's on every single Sunday of the year even Easter! xx

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  2. What a fab Sunday out! Do you mind me asking where you park? I love your blog so far, look forward to reading your posts x

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    1. Thank you! On a Sunday nearly all the surrounding roads around Columbia Road are free parking so put Columbia Road in your satnav and drive around the area for parking if you get there fairly early there's normally an abundance xx

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