On Saturday afternoon we went to Kew Gardens, home of the Royal Botanical Society. And what a contrast with our visit to London Zoo! OK, being Saturday there were no school parties, but there were lots of visitors with young children and lots of young couples, not just tourists. Everyone was there because they were interested – all ages from the suckling child to octogenarians; English, Australian, Japanese; the young and fit to those who needed a wheelchair or an electric buggy.
Kew is vast: over 300 acres; over a mile from end to end; and around half a mile from side to side. The RBS divide the gardens into three areas and reckon that each area is suitable for a 2-3 hour visit. I take leave to doubt this; we spend three hours there and saw about half of one area, tho’ we were taking our time. Essentially Kew is one huge piece of parkland with specialist collections and specialist “greenhouses” between open areas of grass and specimen trees. So you can lose an enormous number of people in it and it doesn’t seem busy. There are good paths, but you can (mostly) walk on the grass too; we even saw one family group who were obviously there to have a birthday party for their 6 year-old; a picnic and games on the grass!
Kew has something botanical for everyone. From the alpine house to the Palm House (excellent free sauna, as is the Water Lily House!); from cacti to aquatic plants; from deciduous woodland to marine algae. Whatever time of year you go there is always something to see. Obviously just now all the roses are in full flower as well as peonies and some irises; we spent quite a lot of time in the rose pergola, looking at the climbing roses. A few weeks ago the gardens would have been alive with Spring bulbs and Azaleas. In the autumn there will be the magnificent colours of the trees.
Every specimen is labelled clearly, so you know not only what it is but what variety it is. More than that each of the specialist areas has large, clear and informative labels – and unlike London Zoo they tell you interesting things; I learnt several things I didn’t know! But there is no prozeletysing about the right way to garden; Kew isn’t a garden show but a zoo for plants. The Palm House and the Temperate House are excellent and in the basement of the former there is a marine display which majors not just on marine plants as we think of them but explains the importance of algae (which includes all seaweeds); as an aquatic display and an exhibition of fishkeeping this knocks spots off the London Zoo Aquarium.
Like London Zoo, Kew also contains a number of important buildings, including the famous Pagoda and Kew Palace. The latter (administered by the Royal Palaces, not RBS) has recently been restored and opened to the public (at an extra charge); we have to go back and make sure we see this. There is a formal lake (with fountain), a few formal flower beds, and several excellent cafés (good cake in decent sized pieces!) and a new tree-top level walkway – again something we have to revisit to get to see.
At £13 for adult admission it still isn’t cheap, but wow!, do you get good value. I reckon you could spend a whole day there and still not do justice to more than half of the gardens.
OK, so what didn’t I like? Kew is under the main flightpath into Heathrow Airport, so the constant noise of aircraft is a pest. And you can’t buy a bottle/can of drink except from one of their cafés (makes note to take drink next time).
If you’re interested in plants, gardens, biology or just a day in the fresh air near central London then this is well worthwhile; it is one of those magical, little-known, places. And like London Zoo the RBS do lots of important conservation work.
Here are the best of my photos of Kew on Flickr.
It was still 2p to get in when I went – shows how long ago that must have been! I’ve always loved Kew – except as you say for the planes. I remember seeing Concorde flying over.
Hi Jilly … Hmmm … Kew at 2p. Yes I do remember that; indeed I think I remember it being 1d in my childhood. But even the 2p was a looooong time ago (like I think before Noreen and I were married). But IMO it’s still excellent value as long as you can spend at least half a day there (or go often enough to make it worth having a season ticket).Concorde flying over!? Not sure I’ve ever seen that, but then I’ve seen Concorde at Heathrow so often (seeing as I go past regularly) I’ve lost count. And incidentally there is still a Concorde on the tarmac at Heathrow, outside the BA maintenence hangar (well it was there last I was there 2 weeks ago).