There’s a new all star cast in the West End, only this one is plants. Surrounded by the Fortune Theatre, a hotel and an office block exists one of London’s earliest children's playgrounds.
Formerly an overflow burial ground for St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Covent Garden Playground began life as a neglected wilderness in the midst and mayhem of 19th century Westminster. It caught the eye of Octavia Hill, the social reformer, early green space activist and a founder of the National Trust who, remarking on its greenery, campaigned for the gates to be opened. In 1877 that became a reality and the space was replanted and opened to the public, quickly becoming a rare garden for children to play.
