A day in Shoreditch, London

Sunday 10th June 2018

Today we decided to spend a day in one our favourite (so far) areas of London with our Kiwi friends Samuel & Eden who have just arrived in London a few days ago. Shoreditch is the area which Lew works in so hes always finding new cool places to eat. We also discovered a lot of things in this area when we were going to Sunday morning free yoga at Lululemon and then went to the multiple markets surrounding the area afterwards for brunch. For those of you who don't know London that well Shoreditch is part of the East End and is North of the River Thames. It used to be part of Middlesex and only became an offical county in London in the 1800's as the city begun to expand rapidly. The area was called 'Soersditch' which was interpreted as 'Sewers Ditch' hence the now Shoreditch due to the boggy watercourse of the river Walbrook that ran around that area. During the middle ages Shoreditch was known for its Augustinian Priory which was built in 1158 near the sacred 'holy well' making it known as the Holywell Priory. It was the richest nunnery in the country until it was dissolved in 1539 when King Henry the 8th disabandoned all religious communities. In 1576 Shoreditch was turned into a popular theatre district that rivalled that of the West End as 'The Theatre' and 'The Curtain' were built with the first performance of Romeo & Juliet being held at The Curtain. In 1598 when the lease for these theatres were about to expire and their land returned to the landowner the theatres were dismantled and the wood transported across the city to be used to build William Shakespeare’s The Globe in Southwark. There are still plaques that show where the theatres and Priory once used to stand not that I have managed to find any of them hence the photos are from the internet but we will have to go hunting next time we are there. In the 19th century Shoreditch was rife with poverty, overcrowding and crime. Most of the area had been bombed in WW2 which meant that major renovations occurred in the 1950's creating the artistic and vibrant place that it is today. We left the house at 10.30am and the first stop of the day was to the Colombia Road Flower Market. Every Sunday the street is filled with stalls creating a plant oasis where you can buy anything from herbs, succulents, flowers or large house plants for pretty reasonable prices. Behind the stalls of flowers are more hidden gems of permanent stores which include cup cake shops, French and Italian delis, vintage clothing stores, small art galleries and many shops selling those much needed accessories to go with you plant such as pots, saucers and gardening equipment. Whether you consider yourself green fingered or not it is well worth the visit. Lew & I had been to this market once before in February which is where we brought our swiss cheese plant and I was keen to add some more plants to our room. You will see photos from our Feb trip as well as our trip this weekend which I am pointed out as you can clearly see a change in temperature! I had brought a book about indoor plants and how to keep them alive and I was keen to create an amazing indoor jungle like some of the photos in the book. After researching what type of plant would work best for the corner of the room which was a bamboo fern or a kentia palm we decided to look out for anyone selling these. We started slowly by assessing the pot situation and making sure Eden had a coffee in hand to begin the day. Then we all begun to make our way up the market squeezing past all the other market goer and listening to the sound of the plant sellers yelling "Everthin' a fiver" or something similar to ensure they sold as much of their plants as possible. Neither Lew nor I spotted the bamboo fern and after showing a picture to one stall owner he shook his head and we decided to move onto looking for a kentia palm. Poor Sam & Eden were being dragged around the market with no need for any houseplants of their own yet but Lew & I were certainly on a mission. We went back to the small shop behind all the markets where we got our swiss cheese plant for slightly cheaper and found a rather large kentia fern to take home with us for £35 ($67 nzd). We certainly surprised Sam & Eden as Lew walked out cradling this very large plant in his arms and we headed straight to the shop where I discovered a beautiful blue pot earlier in the day. It fitted and we both agreed it would work although I think Lew just wanted to get pot hunting over and done with so he didn't have to drag the plant from shop to shop dealing with my indecisiveness. Whilst purchasing the pot for £25 ($48 nzd) I noticed a gorgeous combo of a Chinese money plant or Pilea peperomioides which is its proper name in a grey pot behind the counter. Whilst they couldn't sell me the potted one on display I was able to buy the small pot for £16 ($30.60 nzd) and was told where I could buy the plant from three stalls down outside. This plant stall also had the zebra cactus plants that I was keen on ever since I saw them in our Airbnb in Berlin and for £7 ($13 nzd) I got us a Chinese money plant and also a zebra cactus. That was about all we could carry from the market and my indoor jungle was certainly expanding even more than I expected. Thankfully Lews work was close enough that we were able to leave all the plants there whilst we continued to explore the neighbourhood. Everyone was certainly feeling a little peckish at this point and us girls almost had to share my emergency muesli bar I keep in my backpack to prevent the 'hangry' version of myself from appearing. There are so many places to eat in Shoreditch and we had planned to go to Patty & Bun which is a burger place that Lew absolutely loves and hasn't managed to take me there yet. However burgers were not the preferred lunch option for everyone so we headed to Spitafields Market instead which has a lot of pop up food stalls so we could all choose what we wanted. There was of course another burger place called Bleeker Burger that Lew had been recommended to try by one of our foodie friends and he headed straight there. Eden & I were feeling something more asian and went to a place I had been meaning to try for awhile called the Dumpling Shack where we ordered Dan Dan noodles and also some dumplings. Samuel ended up with a souvlaki and a milkshake which he had been craving and there was also a fresh nutella naan bread that was shared around. Despite it being busy we managed to find a table to rest our legs for awhile before heading out to see some more markets in the area. None of us were overly impressed with our food unfortunately but it did fill a gap and allowed us to carry on. We visited one of Lew & I's favourite shops within Spitafields (aside from Lululemon of course!) called Inspitalfields which is basically a cool homeware/gift/interior design store with lots of beautiful items. Eden has a love for small books and purchased one to add to her collection. I on the other hand found a book called 'The Cocktail Garden' which was adorable and I decided then and there that house plants and cocktails would be my new hobbies! I have to admit I envisioned a scene of Lew and I back in NZ holding house parties where he made homemade pizzas and I made cocktails for all our guests which sounded like the perfect combination. All of your will have to hold me to these aspirations! The boys didn't have many shopping plans and therefore just got dragged along with us girls. Also in Spitafields is a trendy shop called The Mercantile London which every so often has a special item to add into your wardrobe and I was hopeful Eden might find something to wear to her work interviews in the near future. Neither of us found anything on this occasion which my bank account was thankful for and we headed down a street to get to the eclectic Brick Lane Market which is a melting pot of cultures, people, art, food and shopping open 9-5 everyday. Close by to this is also the Sunday Upmarket which is the best place to go to get cheap designer clothing, artwork or jewellery etc from up and coming designers which is where Lew purchased a pretty necklace for my 25th birthday. By this stage I think we had well and truely overwhelmed Sam & Eden and they seemed like they were fading fast. Lew and I are a little more used to walking for miles each day after being here for 6 months. On our adventures around Shoreditch we finally found a shop for the boys which was a bike shop and we let them have a bit of time admiring all the fancy bike components. There was a beautiful green bike on sale that I was rather keen on but would be constantly scared it would be stolen or damaged so decided I would be better off with something less precious as an alternative to public transport. Last on the list for the day was Boxpark which is made of refurbished shipping containers that contain a heap of pop up stores. They even have this one place called 'get a drip' where you can pay to have an intravenous line inserted and choose your hydration package such as "energy booster", "hydration booster", "diet and detox booster" just to name a few. I can't believe people pay for this stuff and it really backs up the mentality of our generation who come into hospital and request a fluid drip which isn't always necessary especially if you can hydrate orally. We left Sam & Eden here to explore as we had been quite a few times to admire the stores and even tried a few of the eateries so it made sense for us to quickly collect our plant babies and leave them to it. We then all headed back on the overground from Shoreditch High Street to Clapham High Street which took about 40 minutes. We had a few hours of down time until it was time for Lew and I to head to Peter Pan at Regents Park Open Air Theatre which I had booked a few months ago. We hadn't actually been to Regents Park let alone the theatre and with it being a still hot night it was a beautiful walk around the rose garden to the theatre entrance. They allow you to have a small handbag and you can bring your own alcohol and snacks inside the bag which I had discovered after hiding my drink bottle deep into my bag to prevent it being confiscated. The theatre itself is absolutely stunning with its wooden exterior with vines hanging off the outside of it. They have a couple of bars under the eaves of the theatre and seats next to the garden with hanging pendant lights. We had seats right up the back of the theatre and as the bells rung to indicate the impending start of the show we made our way to them. With the setting sun behind the stage we realised the only thing we were missing was a glass of Pims and Lew promised to get some in the intermission. The show was incredibly well done with the use of props and also rigging to allow the cast to fly. It truely was a fantastic end to our Sunday and I would highly recommend seeing a show at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre which are only on for a short duration so there is always something new to see. So to sum it all up these are our favourite things to do in Shoreditch if you want to explore the area: The Colombia Road Flower Market, Spitafields Market, The Sunday Upmarket and the Brick Lane Market. I have included some other photos of our adventures around London this week one of which was visiting Buckingham Palace at twilight with Sam & Eden which was also their first time on the underground since they only arrived that day. We also went to Hampstead Heath and had a walk around the town as well as a picnic on the grounds.