The Rubens at the Palace unveiled their spectacular Living Wall just last summer and, less than a year later, it’s thriving in the heart of London.
At 350 square metres and with 10,000 herbaceous plants, the wall is truly a sight to behold. But it’s not just pretty to look at – it has practical uses too. Sustainable tourism advocates The Treadright Foundation recently compiled a list of the many benefits the wall has for the environment, including attracting wildlife, improving biodiversity, reducing the risk of local flooding and of course being “a splash of colour in a sea of grey”. The wall also improves air quality, cools the building in the summer, thereby improving energy utilisation, and absorbs much of the noise of busy London. Extremely impressive for a wall!
The hotel’s Head Pastry Chef, Danielle Maupertuis, even said in a recent interview on Red Carnation’s blog that she would like to create an afternoon tea inspired by the living wall. She said that the task is “difficult because the elements are quite abstract”, but that the wall was quite important to the hotel and so an afternoon tea reflecting it was something that needed to be thought about.
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And thought about it they have, as in May the Living Wall Afternoon Tea will be on the menu in the Palace Lounge, one of our favourite venues.
Coinciding with National Sandwich Week and the Chelsea Flower Show, the tea will feature the hotel’s own home-grown flowers. The sandwiches, created by Executive Chef Nelson Linhares, will include pulled pork, parmesan and basil chicken and brie with truffle. Along with the Pimms cocktails featured as Cocktail of the Month, the selection is designed to bring out that summer feeling. Let’s just hope the weather decides to cooperate! We recommend you get your reservation in nice and early.
The hotel’s green thumbs don’t stop at the Living Wall. Inside you’ll find lots of greenery, with beautiful flower arrangements in the bars, restaurants, lounges and in your room. Not to mention the floral patterns featured as accents in many of the rooms. Red Carnation are dedicated to sustainable tourism and the Living Wall proves that they mean what they say.
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Photo credits: Rubens at the Palace.