Expect to see a lot of bloody battles being waged over the future of Covent Garden.
It’s all change in Covent Garden at the moment, for hot on the heels of these flower power dresses comes the news that the garden has had a name change. Clearly giddy over the recent conclusion of Game of Thrones (fear not, you’ll find no spoilers here), it’s been filled with beautiful flowers and rebranded as Highgarden, the noted flower-adorned seat of House Tyrell.
Unlike the noble, valedictory transformation of Southgate tube station last summer, this is a rather PR-heavy push to mark the digital download release of Game of Thrones – which I suppose must be working, since I’m now writing about it. Of course, if you’re hoping to find lords, ladies, murder, war, and walking corpses, the new Highgarden can’t exactly offer you that. They do have a Starbucks, though.
What it can give you is a cute array of flowers, created by the Horticultural Manager of Covent Garden Highgarden Kenny Raybould. They’ll be in residence for the next three weeks, as part of Covent Garden in Bloom, and if nothing else, it’s nice for a little wander amongst the flowers.
Highgarden isn’t the only new castle in the UK, mind you; Doune Castle in Scotland is now Winterfell, Blackpool has cleverly been re-dubbed Castle Black-pool, and Essex is now Essos (presumably without the troublesome attitude to unpaid labour, one would hope). Personally, I think ours is the most plausible – but then again, to say Covent Garden is exactly like Highgarden is a bit of a Reach…*
*Props to you if you got that joke, and congrats on being a GoT nerd.