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Published: June 22nd 2018
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After her trip on the River Thames, we stayed closer to “home” the following day. Traffic seemed very light for London, as we wandered along the Thames towpath towards Kew Bridge. The tide was well out and the house boats moored on the Brentford side were marooned on the mud. The flow of water between Brentford Ait and Lot’s Ait was almost non-existent. The islands on this section are called Ait and Fullers new bar on the edge of the St Georges complex by the bridge is imaginatively called One Over The Ait. Ait is the local name for small island in the river. The resident heron had abandoned his usual venue and moved to the other side of the Ait to watch for his breakfast arriving on the incoming tide. The path followed a strange route round the back of the Watermans Art Centre and on to Watermans Park. The park is a prime piece of waterfront residential real estate and the fencing by the river edge, suggested change might be coming. The church over the road by the Travelodge has been converted to flats since our last visit to the area. The riverboats on this section were largely derelict
and unused. They looked a sorry state, as they lurched on the mud below. We arrived at the Sainsburys Local by the bridge and purchased some lunch to take into Kew Gardens. I wasn’t totally convinced about the plan for today. Exotic flowers and hot houses didn’t seem the best place for a hay fever sufferer. Time would tell. We cut across the first section of Kew Green nad headed for the Elizabeth Gate. Kew Gardens has a number of gates, but most arrive and depart by the Victoria Gate due to the proximity to the tube station. We showed our pre-purchased electronic tickets stored on my phone and entered.
A useful map was handed over the entry, which is pretty essential for the exploration of "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". The gardens were founded in 1840 in their current form, having previously been part of the royal estates, but were a fraction of their current size. The gardens now include in excess of 30,000 kinds of plants spread over an area the size of a small town. The permanent workforce is circa 750 over 2 sites and supplemented by numerous
volunteers. The gardens now cover over 300 acres with 4 Grade 1 listed buildings. It even has its own police force – the Kew Constabulary dating back to 1847. If plant research is your thing, the library contains over 750,000 volumes and drawings of 175,000.
The Kew Gardens are formally listed as having come into existence around 1759, but this was really just the joining of various royal estates and existing gardens. Edward I was the first monarch to reside in the area when he oved his court to Richmond. Henry VII later established Richmond Palace. The exotic gardens formed by Lord Capel John of Tewksbury were subsequently expanded under varying royal patronage. Capability Brown applied for a job as a master gardener, but was rejected and went on to other things. George III was particularly keen to add to the gardens and bought what is now referred to as Kew Palace to use as the royal nursery in 1781. The Palace is otherwise known as the Dutch House. The striking red bricks and distinctive gables were well showcased in the bright sunshine. The Kew Palace is open at 10:30 am for a visit. It is technically
free, but is part of the historic Royal Palaces setup and donations are encouraged.
After out tour of the Kew Palace and the impressive garden behind, we wandered off towards the Orangery for a brew. One of the original teahouses in the gardens was burnt down by suffragettes in 1913. I positioned a large umbrella to protect from the blistering sun. The temperature had already climbed and it was only 11 o’clock. A group of students were having a briefing for their course, that appeared to be a qualification in the world of garden design. We are not talking planting a few shrubs, but more the world of some of the expensive creations seen at such as the Chelsea Flower Show. The course seemed as much about budget as design and the budgets were in the tens of thousands of pounds. You would be lucky to get a flower bed for less than £10,000, it seemed. We wandered off down an avenue, the Broad Walk, which I read later featured the longest flowerbed in the UK or something similar. I suspect we were talking slightly more than £10,000. A series of new inhabitants of Kew were encountered
Kew Gardens
Men at Work - Palm House at intervals. Dragons. Colourful dragons were randomly positioned around the gardens. Young children wandered on some form of treasure hunt, although the map brochure suggested there were as many as 80 that would imply a deal of stamina would be involved.
It is easy to see why The Hive comes by the name. A sort of giant sculpture, that looks like a bee hive. It cost £6 million. 17 metres high and weighing 40 tonnes, there are 170,000 pieces of aluminium in the structure. A vibration sensor picks up the activity from a colony elsewhere in Kew. It transmits in real-time to 1,000 LED lights on the inside walls of the structure which turn on and off in a visual representation of the bee colony is behaving. Music is triggered from a music bank to play alongside the ever changing lights.
We walked over through the rock garden area, where seriously large pieces had been used to create a garden where the lawnmower would be largely redundant. The Alpine House was a space age structure and a cool break from the heat of the midday sun. The Princess of Wales Conservatory housed a range
of interesting cactus plants, including the one from which tequila is derived. We skirted the computer controlled sprinklers and reached the lake by the Palm House. The area was very busy, largely because the shop and large cafeteria was nearby. The main Victoria Gate was also close. The Palm House was the combined effort of architect, Decimus Brown and iron worker, Richard Turner. The works were completed between 1844 and 1848 and remains as the world’s best surviving example of Victorian iron and glasswork. It seems large, but is a dwarf by the Temperate House. The Temperate House has just undergone a £41 million revamp and literally re-opened to public at the beginning of May 2018. We had followed Pagoda Vista to reach the huge glass house. The Pagoda is taking a turn for a refurbishment, which meant that the southern boundary area was out of bounds. We cut back to the Treetop Walkway. It soars high above the tree canopy in the centre of the gardens, supported on a framework of metal pillars. It provided a good view of the above glass houses.
We descended and made our way towards the frontage up near the Thames.
Syon House is almost directly across from this vantage point. A number of folk sat in the baking sun, fooling themselves on the strength of the sun with the breeze from the water. We walked back down Syon Vista towards the Palm House. The cafeteria looked a little chaotic, so we opted for the tranquil surroundings of the Botanist where afternoon tea was being served. We decided against the actual afternoon tea in the interests of economy and stuck with a cream tea. As fortunate would have it, a table was available. As we dined, the older couple next door were departing and offered up part of their cake selection to supplement our meagre rations. We left the gardens by the Victoria Gate. A huge queue formed by the nearest bus stops. It transpired that the District Line was suspended. The benefits of being close to base came into their own and it was only a 20 minute walk back to Kew Bridge and the sanctuary of the beer garden at the Express Tavern. I always try and call in when in the area - a huge selection of proper real ale at sensible London prices followed by 2 4
1 pizza on a Monday.
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Rainyb
Lorraine Brecht
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!