Once the sole preserve of Larry the cat and whomever he happens to be chaperoning — our Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office currently cohabits with his sixth Prime Minister — the gardens at 10, Downing Street, will open via the London Open Gardens weekend.
Larry will likely make himself scarce as visitors, who can gain access via a free public ballot to two tours on Saturday, June 7, admire the sweeping lawn, rose beds and Dame Barbara Hepworth sculpture in the garden that has been a haven to world leaders since 1736.
Like most politicians, he is unfazed by criticism.
'Without putting too fine a point on it, Larry the cat is a little sh*t. The most miserable animal you’ll ever meet in your life'
Ian Murray, Scottish Secretary of State
Among 111 green spaces across the capital, others new in 2025 include Battersea Rooftop Gardens, one of the largest of its kind in London, whereas returning for the first time since 2017 is the 18th-century gardens of Marlborough House, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and now the Commonwealth Secretariat HQ, where there is a revolving summerhouse commissioned by Queen Mary and a pet cemetery that contains the graves of Queen Alexandra’s dogs Muff, Tiny and Joss, as well as a bunny called Benny.
Also, 20 ballot winners will be invited to glimpse ‘behind the scenes’ at London Zoo, Regent’s Park, where the horticulture team will explain, for example, how to plant a jungle to suit a Sumatran tiger. Other returning favourites include 25 Cannon Street, overlooking St Paul’s (above), and the seven-acre Charterhouse Gardens, within Tudor walls.
Now in its 26th year, London Open Gardens is run by (and in support of) the charity London Parks and Gardens Trust (LPG). ‘Our mission is to protect London’s green spaces old and new; to ensure they can be enjoyed by future generations and to make them more accessible,’ explains director Tim Webb, who points out that only 18% of green spaces in the capital are accessible to the public.
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The pinnacle of the English style of gardening, as fine today as it was a century agoCharles Quest-Ritson has just returned to Great Dixter for the first time in years — and it's 'the high point of all my garden visiting for a long time. I cannot recommend it too highly'.
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It may appear lethargic, but no one could argue with the hunting prowess of the common buzzard when it transforms into a surging missile intent on an unsuspecting victim.
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