Secret Garden Regent's Park

"Absolutely wonderful place. Quiet, has a lot of shade, grass everywhere, flower beds. Why is it better than some places closer to the Regent parks ponds? Because it has no duck shit. If you have a toddler who will not stay on your carefully prepared blanket, this fact is important."

Sergey Starikov

"St John's Lodge Garden – that deliciously clandestine horticultural hideaway that bills itself as Regent's Park's "secret garden" whilst simultaneously appearing on approximately every London garden blog known to humanity. It's marketed as a garden "designed to be meditative," though one suspects the 3rd Marquess of Bute never anticipated his peaceful retreat would become a pilgrimage site for Instagram-wielding meditation enthusiasts.

The garden announces its secrecy with all the subtlety of a theatrical whisper – tucked behind "an open cast iron gate (one open, one closed, usually)" that "looks like it might be a private garden" but absolutely isn't, darling. This is urban camouflage at its finest: a garden playing hard to get whilst leaving its door perpetually ajar.

I arrived expecting horticultural tranquillity and instead found myself in what appeared to be an outdoor mindfulness workshop. The garden writhed with visitors practising various forms of contemplative tourism – some photographing every urn with archaeological intensity, others performing what I can only describe as competitive serenity.

The design itself is undeniably exquisite – Robert Weir Shultz's 1889 vision of "a series of compartments ornamented with sculpture and stonework" creates an intimate theatre of botanical excellence. The rose garden's "four quarter beds around a central basin" with their "circular and semi-circular plantings" demonstrate geometric perfection that would satisfy the most obsessive-compulsive garden designer.

The Royal Parks work admirably hard "to maintain the garden as a quiet space," though they're fighting a losing battle against the gravitational pull of social media-ready serenity.

Yet when you catch it in an unguarded moment – perhaps early on a Tuesday when the only witnesses are the genuinely knowledgeable gardeners – the space reveals its authentic magic. The "over 30 types of rose, mainly old roses" create a fragrant symphony that could convert even the most committed concrete enthusiast. The wisteria-clad entrance tunnel genuinely does make you feel like Alice tumbling into horticultural Wonderland, albeit one with significantly better maintenance and fewer talking rabbits.

St John's Lodge Garden succeeds magnificently at being beautiful whilst failing spectacularly at being secret. It's a horticultural paradox – a genuine oasis of tranquillity that's been discovered by everyone seeking undiscovered tranquillity.

Five stars for the garden design. Two stars for the "secret" element, which has about as much mystery as a Tesco's opening hours. Bonus points for providing an excellent case study in how to market solitude in the age of crowd-sourced serenity."

Pahris

"It’s a bit hidden but I was recommended to go inside by a woman who just visited it and was walking out haha. Just a piece of fairytale inside of this garden."

marta yu