Museums

Chelsea Physic Garden

London's oldest botanic garden, walled beside the river since 1673 and still laid out by what the plants are for, with the largest olive tree in Britain.

Also in Outdoors & Nature and Science & Engineering.

The Society of Apothecaries took four acres of riverside Chelsea in 1673 to grow the plants their trade was made from and to teach apprentices to tell them apart, and Hans Sloane, who had trained here, bought the freehold in 1722 and leased it back to them for £5 a year for ever, a rent still paid; his statue stands in the middle. From here the seeds that founded the cotton crop of Georgia were sent in 1732, and the rock garden of 1773, built of basalt that Joseph Banks brought back from Iceland as ballast, is the oldest in Europe. The high brick walls and the river make it warmer than anywhere else in London, which is why the largest fruiting olive tree in Britain and the northernmost outdoor grapefruit in the world grow here. Its 4,500 plants are still arranged by use, medicine, food, dye and poison, with glasshouses, a pond and a café under the trees. The apothecaries kept it to themselves for three centuries; it became a charity in 1983 and opened its gate.

Where

66 Royal Hospital Road

Nearest station

Sloane Square · 12 min walk

Coming up

• Chelsea Physic Garden Christmas FairFestival · From 26 November 2026

Hours

Hours compiled from public listings, checked 8 September 2026.

NearbyMuseums

• National Army Museum3 min walk
• Royal Hospital Chelsea Museum6 min walk
• Carlyle's House7 min walk

NearbyOther Categories

• John Singer SargentThe World in London2 min walk
• Mark TwainThe World in London3 min walk
• Cheyne WalkLiterary London4 min walk

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