24km Sensational snowdrops
London snowdrops, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park
In Search of snowdrops
Ride Overview
After months of leafless trees and not a flower to be seen, this short and uplifting winter ride signals that the world is still turning and that a new spring is on its way. It links two of the city’s great snowdrop collections, The Chelsea Physic Garden and Kew Gardens. The route passes through Chelsea, rides through the snowdrop-white of Brompton Cemetery and Chiswick House, before journeying alongside the Thames to Kew..
Ride Notes
Contrary to popular belief, the snowdrop is not a native British flower. No one knows how the plant arrived in these islands. Their existence was not recorded until John Gerard published his ‘Generall Historie of Plantes’, in 1597, although it is widely believed that they had existed in England possibly since Roman times. Today, snowdrops are one of the most cultivated and collected of all bulbous plants and individual bulbs can be bought for hundreds of pounds. In February 2015, a single snowdrop bulb, aptly named the ‘Golden Fleece’ sold for £1,390.
The ride begins outside Victoria station, on Victoria Street, which is named after the Queen, whose wedding bouquet was made up entirely with snowdrops. Not only were they the flowers of the season for her February 1840 marriage, but they were seen as symbols of hope and representing a dawn of a new era.
From Grosvenor Gardens ride down the very elegant Ebury Street. This is the heart of Belgravia, where the shops and adjoining streets are as exclusive as any in London. After a dog-leg at the end of Ebury Street, leave Belgravia and enter Chelsea on cycle route Q15 which quickly morphs into ‘Q’. Once past the park-sized private gardens of Burton Court look to the left for a splendid view of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home to the Chelsea Pensioners. Founded in 1692, it is home to retired soldiers, who have surrendered their army pensions in return for their board, lodging and care for the rest of their lives. As you ride past, look out for their celebrated scarlet uniforms. The riding through the quiet back streets of Chelsea lined as they are with gracious and very expensive housing is a feast for the eyes.
The Chelsea Physic Gardens were founded in 1673 in the core principles of discovering how plants can best be used as food and medicine. There are over 4,500 species of plants within its walls and they are a delight to visit at any time of year, secluded as they are from the noise and bustle of London, but in February there’s an extra special reason to visit - the display of over 100 different varieties of snowdrops.
Galanthus nivalis - or common snowdrop - has been used as a medicine since Ancient Greek times to cure problems with the head. Homer describes Odysseus using ‘Moly’ - which is believed to be the snowdrop - to clear his mind from Circe’s bewitchment. In Russia and the Balkans, travellers noted how the ground-up leaves and bulbs were applied as a compress and used as a palliative for headaches. However, it was not until 1958 that a Bulgarian doctor identified Galanthomine as the plant’s key medicinal property and a synthetic derivative is now used in over 70 countries to ease the effects of Alzheimers and dementia.
Having marvelled at the tiny but significant difference of the varieties, remount and rejoin route ‘Q’ which takes you along the quiet Chelsea back-streets, where the houses become even grander and bigger than they were at the start of the ride. Everywhere is a carefully framed picture; door knobs are polished, steps are swept clean by maids, and gloss paint gleams from every window frame.
Brompton Cemetery is one of the best places in London to see drifts of snowdrops in a natural setting. They line the central avenue under the black trunks of the lime trees and are scattered amongst the toppling monuments and gravestones. The Victorians are said to have planted snowdrops in graveyards as a symbol of death, describing them as, ‘so much like a corpse in a shroud.’ In Victorian country folklore they were not to be brought into homes, ‘lest they bring death.’
The route continues down the Central Avenue, crosses the busy Fulham Road and enters the quiet residential streets of Fulham. Along the way, on the north side of the exclusive Hurlingham Club, there’s a house named ‘The Vine’, a clue to the area being famous for its vineyards and nurseries in the 18th century. Having used Putney Bridge’s pedestrian/cycle underpass, the route crosses the graveyard of All Saint’s Church with its clumps of snowdrops much in evidence, and enters the former Bishops of London Palace.
Within the grounds of Fulham Palace, you’ll wonder whether you have been transported out of London into rural southern England. In view are a huge park, a mansion, the River Thames and a quintessential English church with its 15th century ragstone tower from where the St George flag flies. You’ll have to dismount and walk through the gardens, and along the way, you’ll have another opportunity to see more of the varietal range of snowdrops with clumps of Galanthus nivalis pleniflorus ‘Flore Pleno’ - the double variety - along with G. elwessii with its larger flowers and leaves and G. plicatus with its vibrant green leaves.
Once out of the palace grounds, the route continues on quiet, residential backstreets, passing the Fulham Football Club and Riverside Studios and joins the river Thames path at Hammersmith Bridge. It is a glorious stretch of riverside riding; there are often scullers on the water, who row past a backdrop of black poplars and there are many fine Thames-side houses.
On arriving in the grounds of Chiswick house - where cycling is permitted on the perimeter path - there are more drifts of milkflowers - as snowdrops are also known. Having completed the circuit of the grounds, the route continues into Duke’s Meadow, an expanse of playing fields and allotments.
The final section of the ride crosses the river using the cycle path on Chiswick Bridge and follows the Thames to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. The views are fabulous; stately trees, gracious Georgian houses and of course the sacred river Thames all blend to create the perfect ‘picturesque’ landscape.
At any time of year, Kew Gardens is beautiful and there is much to see, but the winter gardens are a particular delight with the highly scented winter borders, the million crocuses covering the lawns, along with the mass of snowdrops encircling the mound of the Temple of Aeolus. A large collection of individual cultivars are found in the rock gardens near to the Princess of Wales Conservatory.
To begin the journey home, cycle across Kew Bridge, to Kew Bridge Station, where trains will take you to London Waterloo. An alternative is to follow the wall of the Gardens round to the Victoria entrance and continue up Lichfield Road to Kew Gardens Station, where there are District and Overground lines back into Central London.
Ride Practicalities
START/FINISH: Victoria/Kew station DISTANCE: 22km. TOTAL ASCENT: 100m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: A quiet mix of traffic-free cycle paths and backstreets. FOOD: Chelsea, The Physic Garden Café, Chiswick; Chiswick House café, The George and Devonshire pub, Kew Gardens; The Orangery, The Botanical Brasserie MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: Victoria Station/Kew station LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: Arcadian Thames, Chiswick to Greenwich, Chiswick to Greenwich