Brown Hart Gardens
An unexpected raised stone garden in Mayfair, free, an Italianate terrace built right on top of a working Edwardian electricity substation, with a cafe and benches above the street.
FREE
The lowdown
Brown Hart Gardens is one of central London's strangest and most delightful free spaces. It is a raised Italianate stone terrace, complete with domed pavilions, sitting a full storey above the street, and it was built in 1906 directly on top of a working electricity substation that still hums away underneath.
The substation needed a roof, and the local estate insisted it be something better than an industrial box, so this elegant paved garden was created on top of it. For decades it was a forgotten curiosity, but a refurbishment added planters, seating and a little cafe, and it is once again a lovely place to pause.
It is free, raised above the bustle, and almost nobody stumbles on it by accident. A genuinely odd and charming spot to rest your feet between the shops of Oxford Street and the grandeur of Mayfair.
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