Come with me to explore the UK’s oldest Japanese garden hidden inside Hammersmith Park in White City. This quiet garden was originally created in 1910 for the Japan British exhibition. This basically meant a giant culture trade show to demonstrate to Britain and the West that Japan also had great technology, culture, and art. Japan hoped it would boost trade and relationships between the countries. Over the course of the exhibition, it drew in over 8 million visitors, which is insane for a time when international travel was super rare. Most of the original 1910 exhibition buildings and structures are now gone. And in the 1950s, the garden was partly demolished and converted into Hammersmith Park, where it didn’t follow traditional Japanese design. But in 2010, the council led a full restoration project with Japanese architects to restore it to its traditional Japanese design. It is now considered the oldest publicly owned Japanese garden in the UK. Did you know this was here?
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