London Secret Gardens Tour: Private Guided Exploration with Traditional Afternoon Tea
4.7
9 Ratings
Greater London
Discover the hidden beauty spots and gardens of central London on a private guided tour. Explore the Inns of Court, Kensington Gardens, and the Chelsea Physic Garden. Enjoy a traditional afternoon tea. Moderate fitness required.
Duration: 6 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Kensington Palace - At Kensington Palace we enjoy Lady Diana’s wonderful sunken garden.
  • Sir John Soane’s Museum - John Soane was a well-known Victorian architect but also an avid collector of antiquities, sculpture, etc. See all of this in his splendidly maintained home.
  • Trafalgar Square - This is very close to our starting point at Saint Martin in the Fields Church. One of London’s iconic squares.
  • Covent Garden - Full of history - it was once the flower market for London.
  • Chelsea Physic Garden - This amazing garden was started by the apothecaries where they could grown their own medicinal plants. Here we enjoy the garden as well as pause for a lovely high tea.
  • Lincoln’s Inn Fields - This is one of the largest squares in London and the location for the Sir John Soane museum. Also, we pause here for our mid-morning coffee break.
  • Inns of Court - The Courts include some lovely gardens hidden away from most tourists.
What's Included
  • High Tea
  • Local guide
  • Transport by private vehicle
What's Not Included
  • Hotel pick-up and drop-off
Additional Information

Join us for a full day of exploring secret gardens and picturesque spots in the heart of London with this guided tour. Our exclusive journey involves travelling by iconic black cab and by foot from one garden to another. The tour includes a visit to the secret gardens nestled within the Inns of Court, the beautiful subterranean garden dedicated to Lady Diana in Kensington Gardens, and the extraordinary Chelsea Physic Garden. Admission fees for all gardens are included along with a delightful traditional high tea. Kindly note: a moderate level of fitness is expected as the morning segment involves substantial walking.

  • A minimum of 2 people per booking is required on this tour.
  • A maximum of 5 people per booking: capacity of new electric London cabs
Location
St Martin-in-the-Fields
Trafalgar Square
Front steps of St Martin in the Fields Church, on east side of Trafalgar Square.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.7
(9 Ratings)
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C9758mqjeannes
Jul 29, 2022
Excellent Tour - Highly recommend the Secret Gardens tour to friends and family. We particularly liked the Physics Garden, but all of the gardens were lovely and so pleasant. Our guide, Stephen, was so knowledgeable and we thoroughly enjoyed his company. The afternoon tea at the Ivy Cafe was fabulous!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Beckyk1200
Sep 26, 2020
Wonderful day out - We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with Stephen. He was an incredibly well-informed and interesting guide and we saw parts of London which we had never seen before (despite having lived there for 20 years). The delicious tea at the end was the icing on the cake!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Comoxmcdonald
Jul 23, 2019
See so much more than gardens with the Dr Who of tour guides - This was one of my best tour experiences of all time. Our guide, Stephen, was a delight. He reminded me of Dr. Who, in the best possible way, as he whizzed us around London revealing hidden botanical wonders , many 'hidden in plain view'. Coming from British Columbia I was drinking up the lengthy historical context of many of the gardens we saw. Stephen was super observant and with an artist's eye he helped me see things I would have missed on my own. It's a long day, a fair bit longer than 10,000 steps and as a stout, older person I was proud of myself for keeping up with the mercurial Stephen. Ending with tea at the physik garden couldn't have been nicer. While I was on my travels I also went on some other more traditional tours with one guide for a much larger group, That is a completely different quality of experience. The smaller tours with Greenwich Royal Tours is a very high quality of tourist experience.
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Susan
Jul 12, 2019
Amazing tour of gardens with afternoon tea. - Four of my travel friends and I were in London before a cruise was to leave and so I booked this great opportunity to see gardens in London. We started at the steps of St. Martin in the Field's Church and from there explored the back gardens of London. Stephen was our guide and so knowledgeable about the flowers, London, and art events. Many of us had seen gardens out of London and the Chelsey Garden show, but this was a personal experience to celebrate the smaller gardens which you might not see if on your own. High Tea was just a bonus to the day. Oh, we had sunshine too. I highly recommend this adventure.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dena
Jun 13, 2018
Great tour with a fantastic guide! - Our guide Stephen was personable and very knowledgable, and very flexible in making sure we enjoyed every stop to its fullest. The individual stops of the tour included the not-to-be-missed Sir John Soane Museum and a fabulous afternoon tea at the Chelsea Physic Garden. Thanks for everything!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lorna
Jun 6, 2018
Fantastic day! - My mum and I went on the Secret Garden Tour of London with our brilliant tour guide, Stephen. We had a lovely day visiting various hidden treasures across London. Stephen was such a great and accommodating guide with a huge amount of knowledge, we really learnt a lot! Afternoon tea at the Chelsea Physic garden was a lovely way to end our day. Highly recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Vin_and_vie
Sep 27, 2019
Beautiful gardens worth the walk - Stephen, our guide for this walking tour, took us from the grand (Kensington Palace gardens, lake, and Victorian greenhouses) to the arcane but very interesting (the Physic apothecary garden), with an excellent lunch/tea included. Best of course if the gardens are in bloom and the weather is good. Wear your walking shoes.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Butch
Jun 26, 2019
Good Tour but Way Too Long - First of all let me start with the good...Stephen our guide. He was very personable, informative and did a great job with what he had to work with on the tour. But make no mistake, this is 1) a long walking tour, 2) more of a history tour of out of the way places than a garden tour. This tour would be better if it was 4 hours long and really went to secret gardens and not public gardens that anyone can go to with out taking a tour. We had already toured Kensington Palace, Temple Church and Covent Gardens, all of which are on this tour. We really liked Stephen, but it felt like he was trying to fill time at several points. The afternoon tea was nice, but we spent very little time in the Chelsea garden because we were tired after having walked 4- 5 miles.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kay
Sep 2, 2017
We all felt like there was more... - <p>We all felt like there was more walking than gardens but we enjoyed the gardens we saw. Tea at Kensington Palace was delightful and the gardens at Kensington Palace very pretty!</p>
Review provided by Viator
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May 2024
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