Crossrail Place Roof Garden

High above Canary Wharf, this roof garden sits suspended between the towers like someone's private secret that happens to be open to the public. It's a proper bit of urban theatre - a living, breathing meadow covering 6,000 square metres where you'd expect concrete and glass.

The space changes with the seasons. Spring brings wildflowers, summer turns it into a working garden with vegetables and herbs, autumn offers something gentler. You walk elevated paths through native planting that wouldn't look out of place in a country park, except the financial district is doing press-ups all around you. The views back over London are genuine, not the obvious postcard ones.

It works brilliantly if you've got kids in tow - there's room to actually move about, and the novelty of a garden this size, this high up, keeps them engaged longer than you'd expect. Grown-ups come for the quiet, which is genuinely rare in this part of London. Allow an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you're the sort who sits and reads.

Free to access, though you'll need to navigate the Crossrail Place building itself. Go mid-week if possible - weekends bring the crowds who've heard it's the secret spot that isn't secret anymore. Brilliant for breaking up a Canary Wharf visit, and close enough to Abbey Wood if you're based at the glamping site there and fancying a day in the city.