i. It wasn't the end of the weekend
ii. We finally went to Columbia Road Flower Market
The American is always pretty great and let's me drag him to antiques markets most of the time (he bought me two beautiful antique egg prints from Portobello Market and had them framed for my birththday) but he outdid himself this weekend when he suggested going to buy flowers in the East End.
We attempted to wake up early and beat the crowd but quite frankly, it's not very easy to get to from Parsons Green. We arrived to a bustle of sounds and sights- at the top of the road was a jolly musical duo who played the soundtrack to our flower perusing and all around us were couples, families and tourists, all trying to get their hands on the floral prizes.
I came here with one thing on my mind: to buy peonies. Luckily for me it's the beginning of the season and there were hundreds of them.
We slowly made our way down the road, squeezing past trolleys piled high with pot plants, Hidcote lavender and orchids. It seems that one side is for bedding plants and the other for fresh cut flowers. I wish I had a little garden in London so I could buy some lavender but that will just have to wait for now.
Perfect bunches of sweet peas!
Orchids for a snip.
We both loved these lilac roses but only realised them when going through our snaps after. I think they would make perfect wedding flowers teamed with frothy white cow parsley.
We scouted out the best deal for peonies and also spied some amazing bunches of roses- 20 for £6! It would have been rude not to. Peonies are a little pricey- five stems were stil £7 but this is still much cheaper than any florist shop I've been to.
I just can't tell you how happy peonies make me! They are just so beautiful.
I've been told two things about this market: either get there very early to avoid the heaving crowds (it was very overwhelming and for someone who loves to faint in public, it was a little hairy..) or get there at the end of the day when the market boys slash the prices even more. I would also suggest, if anyone is getting married in London, to buy your flowers from here, it will save you so much money.
We both would have loved to have popped into the little bric-a-brac shops lining the road but found it a little too busy to get in. I imagine these shops are much quieter any other day of week. We spotted a lovely Ercol chair for £85. All it needed was some love and attention and it would have been fit to go.
The market is open every Sunday of the year except Easter.
I hope you all had a lovely bank holiday and enjoyed the sun in its fleeting moments.
L.
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