Did you know there’s a Garden Museum right in the middle of London? Neither did I.

How interesting, you might think. But this particular place has a few stories to tell.

Paying tribute to the ‘uniquely British love affair with gardens’, the Garden Museum in Lambeth was set up in 1977 within the abandoned church of St Mary’s in order to prevent its demolition, its significance being that it is the resting place of John Tradescant, the first well-known gardener in British history.

Inside the museum you will see a nice gift shop selling gardener’s tools, seeds and floral soaps, a café selling fresh food, and a mixture of permanent and temporary exhibitions. One of these exhibitions is called ‘Gardens and War’ which shows how the use of land to grow vegetables both at home and on the front line during WW1 was somewhat of a lifeline to those hit hardest by the food shortages. It also demonstrates how land was used to grow flowers as a way of raising morale and paying respect to the fallen. The exhibition points out its relevance to the conflict by revealing that the first German bomb to fall on England in 1914 fell in a garden.

The above picture doesn’t do it justice but inside the exhibition is an impressive and well-thought display of various pressed flowers hanging from the ceiling. This was designed by Rebecca Louise Law and it took inspiration from the story of a discovery made by a deceased soldier’s daughter: a collection of flowers grown on the war front in an envelope addressed to her mother.

Speaking of sending flowers to loved ones, my mum, aunt and uncles each recently received a poppy bought by my grandparents which had formed part of the ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ art installation in the moat of the Tower of London. You can see my separate post on this here.

Back to the museum, it’s an all-round good visit if you’re looking for something different to do to while away a Saturday in London. The exhibitions and grounds are pretty and interesting, and you’re bound to find something you like in the shop or the café. The museum receives no public funding unlike other independent museums and they do not have an endowment, so they rely on visitors to maintain the building and garden located towards the back.

My visit here taught me how much our country 100 years ago relied on the land for food when exports were blocked by the German naval blockade. This inspired me to make something quintessentially British: Bubble and Squeak.

Bella’s Bubble and Squeak

This British classic contains vegetables with mashed potatoes which are fried together. It was a popular way to use up leftovers from a Sunday roast and is versatile as it can be enjoyed either for dinner the next day accompanied with meat or for breakfast alongside a fry-up.

My own memories of this dish are at Christmas. On Boxing Day me, my mum and sisters would get up early to go to my grandparents’ and my dad would enjoy a blissful day without us crazy women about and make bubble and squeak from Christmas Day leftovers. As I was cooking this myself I realised the smell would always bring back festive memories for me.

1) Choose your vegetables. This can be anything from leftovers to whatever you pick up at the shop, but traditionally it should contain potatoes and cabbage.

2) Chop up and prepare the mash and veg.

3) Once complete, I chopped the veg into smaller pieces when cooled and added with the mash to a mixing bowl.

4) You can either shape the mixture into patties to fry or fry the mixture itself but fry until browned.