The view from the Sky Garden

I love a good view.

When I lived in California, beautiful views-from-above were easy to come by. I lived in a valley, so I just had to drive up a hill to find a good vantage point.

Then I moved to Scotland. There are some pretty great views there too and I could get to them with a bit of walking. Up Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, or where I lived in Stirling, I could wander up to the castle, visit the Wallace Monument or head to the top of Dumyat, a hill that overlooks the city.

But then I moved to London. It’s flat here. Really flat. So, if you want a really impressive view, there’s really only one option – a tall building.

A few years ago, I took a trip on the London Eye. That was pretty good. Since it’s constantly moving, your view is always changing, but you also only have a few moments to enjoy each angle and the ride isn’t really long enough – plus, those pods have other people in them trying to enjoy the same view. Definitely worth the journey though.

So, last week, Daddy-man, Pumpkin and I made a trip into the City to visit the Sky Garden – it’s a new public space at the top of 20 Fenchurch Street (also known as the Walkie Talkie).

I’d been thinking for a while about visiting the viewing deck at the top of the Shard – but when I looked up the price (almost £24 per person), it just seems too prohibitive. At least right now. I’m sure the view up there is amazing, being the tallest building in Western Europe and all (the viewing platforms are on the 68th, 69th and 72nd floors). But, for now, we’re sightseeing on a budget.

So, that’s why we chose the Sky Garden instead. It opened up not that long ago and I’d read some pretty good things about it. Especially the price (free!) All we had to do was book a visiting time in advance, save the ticket pdf to my phone and bring ID on the day.

The building itself is pretty amazing (if not, in my opinion, hideous), as it is bigger at the top than it is at the bottom – and a bit bulgy in the middle (kind of like me).

It’s also the building that melted a Jaguar a couple of years ago (its concave surface reflected concentrated light on the street – think of a magnifying-glass-and-ant situation). I don’t think I’ve ever melted a car.

We got there about half an hour before our time slot, but they let us in any way. We had to go through a metal detector and then queued up for the express lift to the 35th floor.

The Sky Garden is actually on three levels, with a sloped garden and stairs up either side. In the middle are the lifts and restaurants – a cafe on the bottom with coffees and pastries, a brasserie in the middle and a bar and grill on the top.

We had the pram with us, so we had a quick look around the bottom level, then took a lift up to the 36th floor.

From there, you get a great sprawling views of the north, as long as you look past the Cheese Grater and Gherkin (sounds like I’m making lunch), also known as the Leadenhall Building and 30 St Mary Axe.

The views out the sides of the building were my favourites though. To one side, you have St Paul’s and central London, and we were able to spot landmarks like the BT Tower, Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminster Abbey too.

Since she was getting a bit fussy in her pram, we let Pumpkin out for a while to have a wander. She enjoyed looking at the big silver planters and watching all the people from Daddy-man’s shoulders.

We also tried to take a couple of family selfies with the Gherkin in the background, but were unsuccessful due to a serious case of the squirmmies.

From the other side of the building, you could see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

Pumpkin was more interested in playing with the rivets and the grating than looking at the views. I suppose such things aren’t all that interesting to a one-year-old. 🙂

Canary Wharf was also clearly visible in the distance.

Daddy-man and I took turns going to the terrace on the 37th floor, since it involved stairs (there is a lift, but it takes you into the very posh restaurant…and Pumpkin was getting a bit grumpy).

From there, you get pretty good views to the south, including City Hall, the HMS Belfast and the Shard, although with all the metalwork, it’s kind of like looking through graph paper.

Oh, and there were workers on the roof, cleaning the glass. Eeek!!

Once we had our fill of the views, we headed back down to the 35th floor. From there, we looked sadly at the closed-off outdoor viewing deck and imagined the view from there.

Unfortunately, the high winds meant it was off-limits. And, considering the wind at ground-level nearly knocked me over when we left, it was completely understandable, but disappointing too.

I guess we’ll just have to go back another time! It is free after all!

Then we headed back to the lifts to go. My only complaint of the entire experience was that only one lift was in use. This meant there were a lot of people waiting to use it and there was no queuing system, so it was a free-for-all.

We finally got back to ground level and I couldn’t believe the queue to get into the building. I’m definitely glad we planned to go mid-morning rather than lunch time!

Then we headed off for lunch. We went to our favourite BBQ place, which was just down the road – Bodean’s near the Tower of London. After that, Pumpkin fell asleep and we went searching for a few Shaun the Sheeps, which will be another post.

All in all, it was a great day out – and pretty affordable too. Well, up until our lunch bill arrived. I definitely enjoyed the views and will probably go back at some point to see the view from the outdoor deck too.

Have you been to the Sky Garden or enjoyed any other great views of London? What did you think? Not a Londoner? Tell me about your favourite view near where you live in the comments below. 🙂

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The Sky Garden is open seven days a week and is free to visit – but you must book tickets in advance – visit skygarden.london to find out more. 

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