One of the coolest Copenhagen's rooftop terraces,the hidden gem of Cecilie Beck

 In August, we visited the hidden gem of Cecilie Beck - one of the coolest Copenhagen's rooftop terraces located in the heart of Vesterbro.
We talked with Cecilie about how she created her green space in the city and asked for her design and gardening tips. Cecilie shared a few of those that you can follow in the video and the text below:

Cecilie Beck, her warm personality and broad smile is a staple on the nightly news in Denmark. We are lucky enough to be invited to her beautiful roof top terrace in central Copenhagen and talk about her love of design and rooftop gardening. 

Q: What does it mean to you to have this space and how do you use it? 

I use it whenever it's not raining, it's very important to me - I wouldn't be able to live in the city without the ability to be able to get outside. I love being outside, I love the sun, I love plants and I love to nurse them. That's really an important part for me to be able to live in the city.

Q: You have an amazing view! So what is the deciding argument for getting this particular apartment? 

That is was possible - I feel extremely lucky and privileged 

Q: How do you use plants? Mainly for decoration or do you also grow them to cook and spice up meals? 

Both, I love herbs so I have a lot of them on my balcony. And I love tomatoes! I do it for cooking and then also for fun and because they are so nice -to look at, look at the grass other there - it's so beautiful I think. And beside it is Rosemary, which is huge. 

Q: What was your idea to decorate the terrace did you have a vision for it, were you experimenting, was it more spontaneous? 

I gave it a lot of thought as all things that are up here have to stay here all year so they have to be very durable and very tough - like this (points to SQUARELY GrowBig) because I can't bring them down to the basement every season. So that was my basic concern and then I think a lot about sustainability too, which is one of the reasons that I picked SQUARELY. And I wanted it to be as relaxed as possible, maybe a little beachy

Q: That makes a lot of sense with the seagrass you have here!  Is it important for you to have accessories and furniture that are low maintenance? You're a busy person! 

Absolutely yeah, very. That's why I choose wood that you don't have to do anything about - like SQUARELY - I know you can give them some oil every once in a while but actually I'm not going to because I like the way they look when they get a little pattina

Q: Where do you purchase your furniture? Is it mainly online or are you going to your local stores? 

I'm an online person! Haha, I hate going to stores - I buy everything possible online 

Q: That's how you found SQUARELY? How was your experience with the product?

I think its pretty simple as a product, I like the simple lines and the simple look. And I really like the recycling idea and the sustainability and that you are also into social sustainability. It's very important when its a hot summer they need to be watered two or three times a day if they didn't have this self-watering system, which is the first time I've experienced it and it's working so well. These tomatoes, they are so hard to keep alive in a hot summer but it was not problem this year because of the boxes.  

Have you been away this summer at all?

Well I left them for two weeks and it was absolutely no problem - I found out they can keep water for a month 

That's a great relief because always when I'm gone I have this fear that my plants are dying