When Laura first suggested her allotment in East Finchley as the location for her family photoshoot, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Always excited to discover new places, I gladly accepted her invitation to visit ahead of the shoot.
Once I arrived at East Finchley Allotment, I was greeted by Laura - one of those warm, effortlessly kind people whose gentle nature instantly puts you at ease. As she guided me around her allotment and nearby Forest School, I was taken by the rustic beauty that surrounded me. Laura told me of her plans to soon expand her plot and explained that this was her “happy place”. It didn't take long for me to see why. Perhaps it was the gentle hum of bees weaving between wildflowers, the calming quiet of the surroundings, or the bright red apple Laura picked fresh from a tree as a parting Rosh Hashanah gift, but I had a feeling this shoot would be something special.
Laura, a Forest School teacher, and her partner Freddie, an artist, have a beautiful, blended family with two older boys and a new baby girl. Life with 3 children is surely anything but simple, yet from an outsider’s perspective peeking in, boy did it look like magic. In an age filled with screens and technology, there was something deeply refreshing and wholesome watching this family revel in life’s simplicity - children being children, scraping knees, and joyfully playing into the vanishing sunset.
As the shoot wrapped and night slowly crept in, I began making my way back to the gates of East Finchley Allotments, Laura and her family seemed unfazed by the fading daylight. They were in no rush to leave, as if this space - a world away from the busyness of modern life - was their sanctuary. They seemed to savour those last few precious moments of peace together. While the world beyond the allotment gates pressed on, in this quiet pocket of North London, time seemed to slow, and everything else could wait.
