please empty your brain below

The proper hay meadows are in full swing here in upper Swaledale. And they're free to walk through ... just stick to the footpaths - they are a feed crop as well as looking beautiful.
Nearer for Londoners than Swaledale, the best "wild" flower display I have ever seen is at its peak right now, at the eastern end of Burgess Park, Peckham. Free of course.
Superb subtle use of the word "prerogative" in the context of a royal palace.
I'm envious of anyone who can grow a wild flower meadow - in a moat or elsewhere. For several years I've tried to turn part of my small garden into just that, but all I get is an abundance of grasses and very few flowers. Mine is also not a Superbloom.
Thanks for the tip. Will wonder past the next time I am in the office. Not this week though.
You often refer to things like “people from the provinces” - I know what you are getting at but there’s a lot of people in London, especially outer London that tick the older, white, daily mail reading with disposable income demographic.
I only walked along the northern perimeter about a month ago and it was still too early to see much in the way of flowers.
I also turned away at Tower Bridge so didn't see the eastern edge - which it appears from your photos is the most interesting part of the whole thing!

An elderly relative from the provinces will be visiting soon. No doubt she'll love it!
The preloaded donation is just a con. Placed at the top of the list, they must be hoping that, in their rush to book, people aren't going to notice there's a cheaper option below. There are too many places doing this sort of thing now, presumably to make you feel obliged to donate.
Most supermarket self-serves are in on the act too, usually requesting a donation to X charity and forcing the customer to press "No" before they can continue to pay.

Regarding Superbloom, I certainly wouldn't pay £12 just to walk round the moat!
Saw Carol Kirkwood presenting the weather from there on BBC Breakfast. Her usual over-the-top gushing nonsense about a couple of flowers was enough to put me off. Thanks for confirming that my decision not to go (not that I'd heard of it before this morning) was the correct one.
It all looks nice enough and I'm sure it would be lovely to be in the middle of but it definitely isn't something I'd pay £12 for.
The preloaded donation is probably in part to allow Gift Aid tax relief to be claimed by the charity in question, thanks to the complicated rules which define when Gift Aid is allowed. I wish the Treasury would just decide how much tax relief in total they want to give charities (which in practice they have probably taken into account as part of defining the rules anyway) then find a way of sharing that among the charities without needing such complicated bureaucracy.
It looks alike a good use for the moat to me. Anyway, I think I'll stick with Ian and, er, Time Out for listings, thanks.










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