Weekday Walks | Covent Garden

Last week, when I went into town for the Bloggers’ Lunch, I went up to Covent Garden earlier than I needed to.  Just so I could wander around relatively tourist-free.  Covent Garden is packed full of history, and sometimes all you need do is to step away from the Piazza and into one of the many cobbled streets. A colourful spot to linger is Neal’s Yard,  a small alley between Shorts Gardens and Monmouth Street which opens into a courtyard. It is named after the 17th century developer, Thomas Neale. In 1976 entrepreneur Nicholas Saunders started the bulk Whole Food Warehouse; he had bought Number 2 of the derelict Neal’s Yard, a warehouse for the nearby Covent Garden fruit and veg market, for £7,000 a few years earlier. From this success grew various other enterprises in other buildings such as Neal’s Yard Coffee House, Neal’s Yard Bakery, Neal’s Yard Dairy and the Neal’s Yard Apothecary.The central Piazza is home to street entertainers (who have to audition before being let loose on the unsuspecting public), and you never quite know who you may bump in to.With Christmas approaching, Covent Garden is dressing up nicely.  The main decorations in the old market halls are up and stores are beginning to decorate their frontage and windows.

And if, after a while, you find the crowds all a little bit too much, just step through the wooden gates of St. Paul’s Covent Garden  (known as the Actors’ Church) and into its beautifully tranquil gardens.It’s the perfect place to sit quietly, gather your thoughts and wonder if you’ll have a high Daily Step Count …