Columbia Road Flower Market

Looking for a lazy Sunday stroll in the sunshine and some spectacular floral bargains to boot, then Columbia Road Market is for you.

Just a short meander from the city, Columbia Road Flower Market is one of the prettiest street markets in London, and one of the busiest.

Every Sunday, from eight in the morning till two in the afternoon, the narrow cobbled Victorian street is transformed into a bright sea of colour and lined with people from all over London.

I will confess at the outset, I am not particularly green-fingered, I can tell a dandelion from a daffodil but that’s about as far as it goes. If you are like me don’t let this worry you, the traders are very helpful and will explain exactly how to look after any purchases. Some even label plants specially for the horticulturally-challenged, such as myself, with signs reading “hard 2 kill.” Perfect.

You really will find yourself completely spoilt for choice. There are not only potted plants, but also herbs, shrubs, trees, hanging baskets, all sorts of bulbs and hundreds of bouquets of cut flowers.

The shops around the market are all small and quirky. As well as ones focused on beautiful, and often bizarre, things for your garden, there are quite a few selling home décor pieces, there is a fabulous little second hand book shop, and there are also a number of really cute owner-run cafes. There are rumours that one of these cafes, Café Columbia, is a haunt of trendy London band the Libertines.

Alas, not a Libertine in sight.

From 1pm onwards there are fantastic deals are to be had. Just as I stood by one stall at around 1.30pm,  the price of their strawberry plants went from the original two for a fiver, to three for a fiver and then four.

By closing time, beautiful Orchids were selling for £5 each and almost all the cut flowers were massively reduced. At one point I saw a bunch of 30, yes 30, roses go for £3. In the words of the Orchid-sellers “you don’t get that down Marks & Spencer now, do ya?” Too true.

Great link for extra info: http://columbiaroad.info/

Time: 8.00am-2.00pm

Address: Columbia Road, E2 7RH

Nearest Tube: Old Street – Come out of the tube and walk left down Old Street, then bear left onto Hackney Road and walk down until you see Columbia Road on your right.

Related posts:

1. Sunday Food Market on Brick Lane
2. Afternoon Tea for Two at Kensington Palace
3. Indie Bingo