The Exchange in Bloom - an Erith garden designed by Sarah Price

Welcome to The Exchange in Bloom! Visit us in Erith and take in the sights of our beautiful, blooming garden, surrounding the recently refurbished Old Library Building.

Designed by multiple RHS Chelsea gold medal winner Sarah Price, whose Cedric Morris-inspired show garden looks set to be one of this year’s show’s highlights, the garden at The Exchange wraps around the Edwardian Carnegie library building, now a space for community-led programmes and activities. The landscaping makes effective use of recycled and repurposed material, with handmade brick paving developed by Local Works Studio and salvaged galvanised fencing inspired by the area’s industrial heritage.

The garden is in several parts, with Mediterranean-inspired plantings of pines and olives to the front, where many of the plants were donated by fashion house Hermès after Sarah created a summer terrace at their Mayfair flagship store. To the side, shaded by mulberry trees, is a colourful woodland tapestry, while the back garden is a romantic mix of roses and grasses, anchored by elaeagnus and osmanthus. The focal point of the space is a magnificent glasshouse by Surrey Ironcraft and Buro Happold, based on the original framework of 1930s librarian Florence Barton-Young’s mobile library van. This is being used for propagation and will soon be home to a budding pelargonium collection.

Head Gardener Colin Stewart will lead short tours of the garden on Saturday 27th May, at 11am and 2pm. The garden will be open all week. The adjacent Bookstore restaurant is open from Wednesday to Sunday.

These tours also coincide with the opening of our brand new Garden Room - a place to purchase houseplants, beautiful gifts and homewares.