{"id":183690,"date":"2025-06-14T12:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T12:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/183690\/"},"modified":"2025-06-14T12:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T12:03:09","slug":"watch-london-open-gardens-2025-offers-rare-glimpse-into-southwest-londons-hidden-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/183690\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: London Open Gardens 2025 offers rare glimpse into southwest London\u2019s hidden spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Organised by the London Parks &amp; Gardens charity, London Open Gardens 2025 opened the gates to more than 100 green spaces usually closed to the public across the capital.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The annual weekend fundraiser offered Londoners exclusive access to rooftop terraces, community-run plots and historic enclosures, including 10 Downing Street and Marlborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth. <\/p>\n<p>With climate change and funding cuts placing pressure on urban greenery, this year\u2019s theme spotlighted the role green spaces play in wellbeing.<\/p>\n<p>A visit to <a href=\"https:\/\/thecommonwealth.org\/marlborough-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marlborough House<\/a> with the director of London Parks and Gardens Trust Tim Webb was first, and he outlined the mission behind the event and the significance of London\u2019s 4,000 green spaces.<\/p>\n<p>Webb said: \u201cLondon\u2019s parks are more than pretty backdrops \u2013 they\u2019re essential infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOpen Gardens is about showing the hidden gems that people walk past every day without realising their value.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Two more exclusive sites in southwest London were visited: first, the Spurgeon Estate Community Garden where, six years ago, the residents transformed a patch of land into a flourishing space of nature and friendship.<\/p>\n<p>Later, the rooftop garden at the Ismaili Centre in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swlondoner.co.uk\/tag\/south-kensington\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South Kensington<\/a>, home to the UK\u2019s Ismaili Muslim community, which opened in 1985 as the first Islamic building of its kind.<\/p>\n<p>Each garden certainly told a story of care and of London\u2019s ever-growing need for protected green spaces.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the full video to learn more about these hidden spaces.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Organised by the London Parks &amp; Gardens charity, London Open Gardens 2025 opened the gates to more than&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,9143,17877,35438,4884,257,15977,5614,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-183690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-event","11":"tag-fundraiser","12":"tag-gardens","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-open","16":"tag-parks","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114681624165988659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}