Red Cross Garden

Red Cross Garden was designed as one of the earliest public gardens built explicitly to improve life for London's poor, part of Octavia Hill's broader housing reform work, and the surrounding cottages and community hall still reflect that original social purpose. It's a genuinely small space, easy to walk past without noticing, but its history and quiet corners have made it a favourite among those who do find it. Reviewers frame it as a worthwhile detour on the way to Borough Market rather than a destination in its own right.