A secret spot to view London’s sakura-plus season

Rashmee Roshan Lall
2 min readApr 8, 2024
All photos: Rashmee Roshan Lall

You won’t find this on any list of the best places to see cherry blossom in London.

Time Out, for instance, writes: “You can find cherry blossoms in some of London’s best parks and lining pretty suburban streets. From the candyfloss arches of Greenwich Park, to the Cherry Walk in Kew Gardens, London folk are spoilt for choice. Get your camera at the ready and find out if one of these top places to see cherry blossom in London is conveniently on your doorstep.”

Magnificent, yes.

And then there’s our secret spot.

In an ancient woodland.

I’d argue, though that London has more than a sakura or cherry blossom season. It’s sakura-plus.

The city has so many spring-flowering trees and bushes, not least blackthorn, crab apple, hawthorn, Osmanthus x Burkwoodii and more.

In our ancient woodland, there is the wood anemone, Anemonoides nemorosa, one of the very first spring blossoms. These spreading plants drink in the light that falls through the leafless deciduous old trees on the floor of woodland that has existed longer than England.

Originally published at https://www.rashmee.com

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Rashmee Roshan Lall
Rashmee Roshan Lall

Written by Rashmee Roshan Lall

PhD. Journalism by trade & inclination. Writer. My novel 'Pomegranate Peace' is about my year in Afghanistan. I teach journalism at university in London

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