Today, we walked into what felt like a secret garden. A red brick wall surrounded the Chelsea Physic Garden and to get in we rang a little door bell. Once inside the garden I was surprised by how big it was.

This place has everything from plants used as medicinal cures and herbal remedies, to beautiful flowers, to carnivorous plants that eat insects. Garden beds were set up for all types of plants and were marked for each purpose, like psychology and cardiology. Michael Holland runs the education department at the Chelsea Physic Garden and offered to show us around. The Garden has been here for a few hundred years and was originally set up to train apothecaries to use plants and herbs in medicine.  

Did you know that some of the same plants and herbs used to treat sickness in Shakespeare's day are still used today? Shakespeare even mentions plants in his plays like a potion used in Romeo and Juliet and the poision used in Hamlet.

During our visit to the Garden, we learned about more than just Shakespeare. Michael also pointed out a plant called mandrake. Mandrakes are the plants from Harry Potter that scream when plucked from the ground. The myth of this screaming plant has been around for some time.  

I was also shown a statue of Hans Sloane, who is responsible for combining cocoa and milk to make a chocolate drink. Hans Sloane, the original Willie Wonka!

As Shakespeare wrote: "This Garden has a world of pleasure in it." (The Two Noble Kinsmen)

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