rus in urbe

The Barbican Conservatory: The Hanging Gardens of EC1*

10/03/2025 donbrown 0

To the Barbican on a glorious early spring day when the sky was blue and the sun was warm. Chamberlin, Powell and Bon’s brutalist City […]

The “McGill Oak” Tree on Strand and the “Great Storm”

11/12/2024 donbrown 0

It has been estimated (by whom, I have no idea, but let’s roll with it), that London has more trees than people. That means more […]

‘Lost Gardens of London’ at the Garden Museum

30/10/2024 donbrown 0

To the Garden Museum in the old St Mary at Lambeth church (burial place of William Bligh, of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame), hard by […]

The Blue Bridge in St James’s Park

03/10/2023 donbrown 0

It’s the platform for a trillion photos – to the west is Buckingham Palace, framed by trees, and look east to see Horseguards, the London […]

Victoria’s Secret Garden – a hidden gem in Westminster

11/06/2023 donbrown 0

The long highway of Victoria Street has to be one of the most second rate walking routes in the whole of the city. There is […]

Duck Island Cottage – Westminster’s Swiss Chalet

15/05/2023 donbrown 0

It’s somehow absolutely typical of london that some of the closest neighbours to George Gilbert Scott’s huge Italianate Foreign Office building is a pair of […]

The Wondrous Pelicans of St James’s Park

22/08/2022 donbrown 0

Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!His bill holds more than his belican.He takes in his beakFood enough for a week.But I’ll be darned if […]

The Ascent of W1: the Marble Arch Mound

21/08/2021 donbrown 0

I actually thought it might be a good idea. It was certainly an idea worth exploring, and perhaps wacky/left field enough to work; plant a […]

Bonnington Square: Rus in Urbe with knobs on

25/04/2016 donbrown 0

There’s a truism that if you venture off the main street almost anywhere in London you’ll discover something new. I do this a lot, sometimes just […]

Camley Street Natural Park – King’s Cross Oasis

24/04/2015 donbrown 0

Having passed through the King’s Cross development quite frequently over the past few years to meet clients, I know that the changes there have been […]