While you may not yet have faith in the imminence of summer, if you find your way to the Sanderson Hotel's new Garden of Live Flowers, the scent of jasmine enveloping a towering living tree in the middle of the courtyard might make you heady enough to believe some sunshine is around the corner.
For this, you would have floral designer, stylist and horticulturist Kitten Grayson's dramatic installation to thank - the perfect prelude to Chelsea's annual Flower Show, which runs between the 23 and 27 May this year.
Drawing inspiration from chapter two of Lewis Carol's Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, the partnership between the Sanderson Hotel and Perrier-Jouet offers a floral display recalling the pink daisies and talking tiger lilies of the author's imagination.
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The usually inaccessible space in the centre of the hotel's courtyard has even been made available for private bookings for up to six guests.
Alternatively, should you arrive when it is raining, the hotel's iconic Long Bar has also taken on the horticultural theme, temporarily renamed the Bar of Nature, with a new menu that is, by its own admission, "Not as Nature Intended".
In collaboration with the famed Epernay champagne producer, drinks master Stuart Bale, of 69 Colebrooke Row and Strange Hill Calibre, has produced a summery menu which includes the aptly named Front Runner, combining Belvedere and lemon-scented herbs with classic Perrier-Jouet Brut NV.
Sample each of his concoctions at will, but you'll know it is time to call it a night when you see the lush vines that adorn the central bar begin to climb the walls and you hear Alice in Wonderland saying: "I only wanted to see what the garden was like, your majesty."
The Garden of Live Flowers is at the Sanderson Hotel in partnership with Perrier-Jouet
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