Chelsea Fringe Festival 2013: Battersea Power Station

A mere rebel seedling in 2012, Chelsea Fringe has grown to become the wild young thorn in the side of the mature Chelsea Flower Show. Its programme of some 200 projects (the number was 100 last year) covers such alt delights as a two-day gin bar in a botanical garden, knit-your own veg classes and a temporary restaurant serving food straight from city allotments. The festival is surfacing across London, though a clutch of the best guerrilla gardening events and plant-inspired art installations are taking place in one hub: the Battersea Power Station’s brand new, riverside pop-up park. Situated in front of the Grade II-listed industrial masterpiece, the leafy plot will host an edible Herb Hub, a plant swap (Sat May 25 and Sun May 26), and Anchorage – a multi-sensory installation made up of two fragrance-infused hammocks and speakers playing a ‘transporting’ soundscape. On Saturday May 18, Planting Ideas will invite people to stand like plants in flat pack planters and share ideas, and the Bicycle Beer Garden will be travelling around the park giving away packets of seeds. Turn up on Saturday May 25 for Teatime Wonder Game – a sort of Madhatter’s tea party-cum-interactive theatre event in which ‘guests’ take part in a surreal game (performances at 3pm, 5pm and 7pm) – or arrive on any day to enjoy artist Sam Haynes’ Garden Optics – two large convex lenses which magnify the landscape. If you miss the festival, the Battersea Power Station park will remain popped-up until September 20. To reach the park, take the new footpath under Grosvenor Bridge. Disabled access is possible via Kirtling Street, Gate 4 where there is a lift. For more information see www.chelseafringe.com.