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About Choumert Square
Choumert Square, built in the latter half of the 19th Century, presents to the visitor not a square but a laneway of 46 tiny cottages leading to a communal `walled’ garden. The gardens of this secret Southwark street are among the tiniest it’s possible to tend! They’ve evolved over some 40 years, triggered initially by a few neighbours’ gardening passions that infused the enthusiasm of others.
Today the Square gardens uniquely demonstrate how gardening unites a community. The street divides into a sunny side and a shady side, and the gardens’ eco-climate (and planting) reflect this. Key features are the variety of roses growing in the Square, the mix of trees (including birch, willow, eucalyptus, robinia and acer), and a colourful array of perennial border plants and annuals, many home-grown.
The garden has been featured on BBC TV (Gardeners’ World three times) and on Channel 4, in numerous magazines and national press articles (including BBC Good Homes, Period Living, London Evening Standard, The Sunday Times and The Guardian).
In November 2007 our Square won one of the special 25 `Blooming Fantastic’ Awards which the Conservation Foundation bestows on those areas that have brought a green awareness to corners of London. In August 2009 the Square received the Silver Gilt Award for Best Community Garden, Southwark in Bloom. And a Highly Commended in the 2011 London Squares competition. In 2017 it was cited in the top 3 London Squares by the London Garden Society.
The Open Day is primarily about gardens and sharing with others our residents’ love of this little corner of the inner city; but it is also renowned for its demonstrable community spirit.
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