Firstly, for those of you who have been trying to comment - G has fixed the layout so you can now comment
Wednesday was the "big day" for Thatcher so we thought it best to head out of London for the day and just get away for the madness. In the end we spent a brilliant day at Kew Gardens, just enjoying a day to ourselves in a beautiful setting. The sun joined us on occasions as well! If you ever have the chance to get to London it's worth a visit.
Kew Gardens is London's Botanical Gardens and covers over 700 acres with a number of plant collections, glasshouses, heritage buildings and tree top walkways. The gardens are home to the world's largest collection of living plants with over 30,000 different kinds of plants.
We began at the Palm House (pictured below) where there is a cycad which is said to be the oldest "pot plant" in the world (it was planted in the pot in 1775). The Palm house has a variety of plants divided into continents of origin including coffee plants, ylang ylang, an ebony tree, hibiscus & numerous other palms, cycads, bromeliads & ferns - none of which we remember the names of (but you get the idea)
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| Palm House |
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| Oldest Cycad (in a pot) |
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| Palm House |
| From the Palm House we headed over the the Prince of Wales Conservatory which looks like a building devoted to cactus from the outside (G's not a huge cactus fan) but we were pleasantly surprised. The conservatory houses ten computer-controlled micro-climatic zones, with the majority of the greenhouse filled with Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics plants. There are numerous orchids, water lilies, cacti, lithops, carnivorous plants and bromeliads housed in the various zones. |
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| Prince of Wales Conservatory |
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| Jade Hanging Plant |
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| Water Lily Plant |
| Another interesting fact about Kew - it is home to one of the largest compost heaps in Europe, made from green waste from the gardens and the waste from the stables of the Household Cavalry. We were wondering why there were signs everywhere inviting us to visit the "Compost Heap"....but looking at the plants we'd be happy to have some of this mulch/compost for our roses! |
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| The rest of the day we wandered throughout the gardens, climbed the 100 or so stairs to the treetop walkway which gives you a great sense of just how big the gardens really are, and came across a peacock strutting his stuff for anyone who was willing to watch. |
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| Treetop Walkway |
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| Peacock |
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| Cherry Blossom Japanese Garden |
| We arrived back into London late in the afternoon and enjoyed a Lebanese meal near Soho (after lining up for 30mins to get in) but it was worth the wait. Tomorrow's our last day in London and we're planning to visit the National Gallery. Caz has one final thing on her London list.... to get herself to a local pub for a pint of English bitter! |
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