Monsoon Season

In a housing estate, nestled quietly in a corner of a city is a temple.

It's made from 2820 tonnes of Bulgarian limestone, and 2000 tonnes of Italian marble.

Every piece was shipped to India and intricately carved brick by brick by a small army of 1,500 volunteers.

All 26,300 bricks were then shipped back half way around the world and assembled...

In north west London...

And it was all paid for by the local community recycling Coke cans.

Well, not entirely ALL by coke cans. Some of it was paid for by sponsored walks too.

A sign on the wall as we entered said "please show respect and keep silence". I'm sorry to report that upon entering the heart of the building, I did let out a very quite involuntary "**** me".

We weren't allowed to take cameras inside the temple, but the people there couldn't have been more welcoming as two visitors wondered around slack jawed marvelling at the genuinely amazingly beautiful craftsmanship that has gone into every square cm of this building.

This is the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London. It's 20 minutes walk from Neasden tube station, and you have to see it.