This is a brand new linear park in raised beds that sits in the Chelsea Barracks development near Sloane Square.
It’s a park that’s lined on both sides by long rows of hedges with plenty of seating spaces along it, but dominating the space is the large raised bed in the centre packed full of flowers.
According to the official description, the linear park is “inspired by the kitchen gardens of English country houses, Mulberry Square is planted with dozens of English fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers.”
For a linear park running east-west, the planting is also mostly linear, in rows running across the width of the pocket park, giving a very regimented appearance to a space that would otherwise likely be more naturalistic.
I’d suspect that the regimented appearance fits with the local area where people pay a lot of money for well-maintained grounds, and keeping the flowers looking as if they’re being carefully corralled into shape suits the occupants.
That does have the benefit though of walking along the pocket park and every couple of steps shows a new row of flowers to enjoy.
A couple of long shallow water rills alongside provide a bit of water movement leading to a pond at the far end. The wildlife seems to like it as well, as I saw a heck of a lot of bees being busy here.
Looking from above, with its wide rows of colours, it does look a bit like one of those litmus papers you used to use in chemistry classes to tell how alkaline or acidic a liquid is.
The pocket park, along with others in more private parts of the estate was designed by Gustafson Porter + Bowman, who said they were inspired by paintings of Bridget Riley in their layout.
This is very much a pocket park to look at than to play in, as it’s on the raised bed and so thickly planted that you’d never really be able to sit in it.
However, with plenty of seating along the edges, it’s a pleasant spot to relax in for a while when in the area, as I have done several times. They also occasionally put public art in among the plants, although on my last visit, there were just a few signs left from a previous display that had just been removed.
Very fitting that the plants are lined up and regimented maybe a nod to when this exact spot was the parade ground for the barracks troops rehearsing daily.
It’s a bit of a stretch to call this a park. Surely a park is somewhere you can walk among rather than next to plants? This is no more a park than the flower beds outside Buckingham Palace. The space in front of Battersea Power Station is a small but more or less genuine park.