Peace Garden, Tavistock Square
london's quiet corner of peace
A quiet Bloomsbury square that has become London's garden of peace, gathered around a statue of Gandhi.
Free to visit · Bloomsbury · Russell Square · WC1H 9EZ
Opening: Daily, daylight hours
Tavistock Square is an ordinary-looking Bloomsbury garden with an extraordinary theme, and it costs nothing to sit in. At its centre is a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, seated cross-legged, with a hollow in the base where people leave flowers, and over the years the whole square has quietly become a place dedicated to peace.
Around the lawns you will find a conscientious objectors' stone, a cherry tree planted for the victims of Hiroshima and a memorial to the dead of the 2005 London bombings, which happened just yards away. It is a small, thoughtful, free green room in the middle of the city, made for sitting still rather than passing through.
Getting there: A couple of minutes from Russell Square station, in the heart of Bloomsbury near the universities.
Best time to go: A weekday lunchtime when local workers and students drift in for a calm half hour.
Insider tip: Look for the flat stone dedicated to conscientious objectors and the Hiroshima cherry tree, easy to miss among the lawns. It is one of the most peaceful free benches in Bloomsbury at lunchtime.
Free things to do in London · London Free Guide