Hello beautiful souls! Welcome back to The Road Jess Traveled and today we are experiencing Springtime in London! I hope you’re having a wonderful season filled with lots of love, sunshine, and colorful flowers!
Before We Get Started…
As you may have noticed, we were chronologically cruising on the Italy train and now BAM we’re in London! Moving forward, I am going to intuitively feel into what blog posts are ready to be written and shared. I may post more from the present day, or sometimes I may rewind it back! But like the philosophy behind The Road Jess Traveled, “The Road” is not a straight line – it is an authentic, fluid experience that takes you wherever you inherently need to go.
So as always, thank you for being here! If you have a preference for present-day vs. backtracking, specific countries, how often you like new blog posts, etc. please drop a comment below so I can keep that in mind moving forward! After all, my dear reader, this is for you!
BIG NEWS: Ebook Travel Guides: Coming Soon!
And before we get started – I have something very exciting to share! I am beginning to write a series of Travel Guides that will be available for purchase on this website! (I am intending for the first one to be released within the next few months!
Through these books, I hope to serve as your “friendly neighborhood travel guide” and share the experiences and tips I have gained by living in each country for an entire month. I truly hope you will learn about, manifest, create, and plan your own ultimate travel experiences alongside each ebook! I am so excited to start sharing these!!
Make sure you are signed up for my email list and follow me on Instagram (@JessicaFaye508) so you know when the ebooks become available!
The Best Thing to Do in Springtime in London
Without further ado, let’s get started on today’s post!
Springtime in London is such a joyous experience. There are so many different ways you could go about experiencing it. However, what we chose to do felt like absolute bliss in my eyes and I can’t wait to share it with you!
Please Note – The following activity must be done on SUNDAYS in London!
The Sunday we chose to do this activity was actually Easter, Sunday. It’s always really fun to celebrate a holiday abroad!
REALITY CHECK: I’ll be honest, this morning I was in a pretty rough mood. My period hit me so hard this week which was really tough on my body, and it was making me feel very low and sad.
However, we had a quick breakfast, turned on some Bing Crosby Easter Music on Spotify, and went out to catch the tube! We took the Central Line over to Bethnal Green!
Visiting Columbia Road Flower Market
We took a 17-minute walk from the tube station and arrived at our intended destination: Columbia Road Flower Market. This seemed like the perfect place to spend Easter morning!
The whole town was pretty quiet during our walk, but as we got closer to the market the energy got much more lively. You could definitely tell there was an event going on! We walked up to the very first point of the market which was mostly green plants which are, of course, lovely. But, even at that point, we still had no idea what we were in for!
Of course, “flower” is in the title of the market, not just plants. So as we continued strolling down Columbia Road there started being stands and stands of flowers. My God! My mood absolutely skyrocketed upon seeing all of the vibrant colors and stunning variety of flowers offered on this street!
We didn’t realize this at the time, but there were over 40 stands of flowers at the Columbia Road Flower Market. They had anything you could have ever wanted – gorgeous bouquets, succulents, and even full-out trees!
TIP:
columbia road flower market only runs on sunday mornings! be prepared for it to be exceptionally crowded (but well worth it!)
Creating Our Springtime in London Flower Collections
I went into this experience thinking I would maybe buy one bouquet and call it a day, so I started off by getting some dark purple and pink tulips. Those seemed very Eastery to me!
Besides the market, Columbia Road is also lined with shops and restaurants. So we went to a gift shop and got some artistic postcards of the Underground, The Queen, and Abbey Road! That definitely sums up our time in London, wouldn’t you say?
They are by Langom Design and are some of my favorite postcards I’ve ever encountered during my travels.
We went back out and continued walking. There were thousands of gorgeous flowers to look at, it was a bright and colorful floral wonderland!
Slowly but surely we started a little flower collection we fell in love with. Let’s face it, it was inevitable!
We walked by this dried lavender that had such a gorgeously potent smell – I swear we smelled it all the way down the street! And this color was so vibrant that it felt otherworldly. We asked the lady working there if there was anything specific you do with dried lavender and she said “just put it in a vase with no water and admire it!”
After a few whiffs, we thanked her and walked away… and within two minutes we turned around and went back to get some of our own. It was TOO GORGEOUS to leave behind!
Exploring More of Columbia Road
Steven really wanted a little Yucca tree… so we went over and got him one! We will put it on our balcony and leave it behind for our Airbnb host’s garden after we check out.
As we wandered down the road, Steven got some Oysters from a guy who was running a stand at the market. He had coolers of fresh oysters that he was cracking open right then and there, and he topped them with hot sauce and horseradish. Steven is much braver than I am (and I am happy to report he did not have any oyster complications LOL). He ate those and held his little tree while we watched a band play! There was even a tap dancer!
Then we walked into a little alley that was composed of brick buildings lined with green vines and overhead lights! My ideal aesthetic!
In that cove, we found a little cafe where Steven got a sausage roll, I got a cheddar/spinach scone, and we split a chocolate cupcake with an Easter egg on top! Our little Springtime in London Easter treat!
The Best Time to Flower Shop!
We walked back to the main strip and as the Flower Market began wrapping up. This was the time to shop!
TIP:
Although the flowers are more picked over, the vendors offer better deals later in the day! They are trying to sell as many flowers as possible before the market closes, so if you aren’t picky that is the best time to buy!
We also got some beautiful little pastel Easter flowers, aka Baby’s Breath. They had pink, purple, green, and blue tones in the bouquet!
Then, at the last minute, we got these GORGEOUS show stoppers that we thought looked like bulbs from Pandora in Avatar. One set was blue and purple, and the other was orange and pink, with the hues blending together. They were sold with the bulbs all netted together, and when we got home we cut the netting to they could expand! So gorgeous!
After we had arms full of flowers, we trekked back to the tube so we could get home. The happiness I felt after being surrounded by this many beautiful flowers was absolutely unexplainable. My soul truly felt alive!
Springtime in London Flower Set-Up At the Airbnb
We got back to our Airbnb and then got all of our flowers set up! Our host has everything in this Airbnb, I swear. He even had VASES, god bless him.
We cranked up the Easter music again, took off all of the paper, trimmed the stems, and set them up so we could admire the flowers for as long as they last. They have brought so much life into our little London home!
TIP:
If you are traveling to London for a short period of time, try to go to the Columbia road Flower Market early in your visit! that way, you can purchase flowers and they will remain alive for a good majority of your stay. and again, just remember – the market is only open on sundays!
And that wraps up our Columbia Road Flower Market journey! I hope you enjoyed learning about this market – I never knew it existed until it was recommended to me and now it is something I’ll never forget. I definitely would highly recommend checking it out if you’re in London on a Sunday!
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