I love those days where we don’t really have any plans but end up coming across things we’d forgotten or didn’t know about. Sunday was one of those days.

We headed out early afternoon to have a mooch and the only destination we had in mind was The Tipperary pub on Fleet Street which has recently reopened after being closed for some time, it’s future uncertain. Sadly, despite google maps and their website saying they’d be open, the doors were very firmly locked shut. While that was disappointing, it got us out and about, and on our way there we came across two interesting, and very different, exhibitions.

The Artist’s Garden, on the roof terrace above Temple tube station, opened in 2021 as a space for women and under represented artists to display contemporary sculptures. I’ve not been since its opening exhibition by Lakwena in late 2021. Whilst I’m often in the vicinity, it’s not something I walk past regularly, but as we were going over Waterloo bridge on the bus, the current exhibition caught Adam’s eye so we went to check it out.

‘Slackwater’ by Holly Hendry “weaves together the watery history of its riverside location, abstract rhythms of the Thames and liquid movement within the human body.”

I loved the use of industrial materials to create a maze like sculpture. For some reason I couldn’t get the song ‘Octopus’s garden’ by the Beatles out of my head – I guess the way the ducting was laid out, at times wrapped around other industrial materials, made me think of octopuses legs. At times the sculpture weaved around the benches on the terrace allowing people to sit amongst it – though of course I whacked my head when I took a perch on the bench.

The terrace seems to be a relatively unknown spot with only few people milling about. It’s a great place for an alternative view over the river; we watched a protest of cyclists go by along the embankment below. A great start to our Sunday mooch.

As we continued on our way towards Fleet Street, we wandered past Two Temple

Place. Originally built as an office for William Waldorf Astor, it’s a fantastic building with the most amazing stained glass windows. We’ve been before and both of us immediately recognised the building when its exterior was used at the beginning of The Batman film in 2022. It was the current exhibition that caught my eye though – The Glass Heart: Art, Industry and Collaboration.

I have an obsession with coloured glassware and stained glass. In fact I find it amazing what people can create from the material – it’s a craft I’d love to have a go at sometime. From the ‘beating’ mouth blown glass hearts in a cage and the 1960s stained glass, to the yellow glass chair and clear glass fire extinguisher I was in awe of the objects on display. The stunning wood panelled walls acted as a great backdrop to these creative uses of glass – some of which I couldn’t believe were made from glass.

After these two exhibitions, I’d had my fill of culture, so we continued on to some of our favourite pubs for our typical Sunday pub crawl to complete our day. In central London it’s so easy to get sucked into the main tourist attractions, but if you go slightly off the beaten track there are some real gems to be found – and both of these were free!

The Glass Heart is on until 21 April after which Two Temple Place is only open on certain days throughout the year. Slackwater is on display until September 2024.