Secret Garden - St John's Lodge
Posted by: 
PINOY01
N 51° 31.782 W 000° 09.148
30U E 697508 N 5712576
In the middle of Regent's Park, a secret garden attached to a private mansion but the garden is open to the public. A quiet sanctuary hidden and undiscovered by many -- in the middle of one of London's busiest parks.
Waymark Code: WM9A8X
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/21/2010
Views: 16
St John's Lodge was built in 1818 by John Raffield and extended in 1847 by Charles Barry and in 1891 by R W Schultz for the 3rd Marquess of Bute. During World War I it was a hospital for disabled officers and became the HQ of St Dunstans with its workshops from 1921 to 1937. It housed the Institute of Archaeology 1937-1958 and is now private although the garden is accessable from the Inner Circle.
There are 2 versions of who now owns St Johns Lodge -- the Sultan of Brunei (richest man in the world) or the Reichman family (Canadian family of Olympia/York and Canary Wharf fame). My own contribution to the mystery -- I was sitting in my favorite chair in the garden in 2008, and struck up a conversation with a couple of Filipina maids (am originally from Manila myself) who worked in the mansion and were standing at the grilled gate, they said it was Prince Jefri who they worked for and who was living in the mansion (Prince Jefri is the Sultan's brother).