We spent a long week-end in London visiting relatives and we finally made it to the Kew Botanical Gardens! So exited!! It may sound silly but we had never been there despite the fact that we lived in London for more than 2 years.
It was so worth the trip! These botanical gardens are the world’s largest collection of living plants with more than 30,000 different kinds.
It was drizzling (of course!!) so we walked a bit around but quickly took shelter in the Palm house, an impressive iron and glass building built in the mid nineteenth century which host tropical and subtropical plants. The building itself is remarkable but what’s most striking is the way the plants mix with the iron structure in a messy yet very organized manner. So British!!
Stepping in the Palm house is like being sent back to the Victorian Era, not because of the heat and humidity required for the plants of course, but because of the timelessness of the place. The glasshouse has been restored an upgraded a few times since its construction, yet the romantic staircase, the details on the iron structure, the soft shimmering lights filling the space through the glass structure, all create a charming atmosphere and I could picture myself walking through the palm trees in a beautiful victorian dress, being courted by a charming man!
The above plant is presumed to be the oldest potted plant in the world. it was collected in 1773 in South Africa and was brought back to England by boat, a 2 years journey. It was one of the first plant to be moved to the Palm house in 1848.
I don’t think we are allowed to eat the bananas!! They would be hard to grab anyway so they are safe!!
There is also a marine aquarium in the basement of the Palm House. I don’t fancy fish being exposed in small tanks (no matter the size of them) so this wasn’t my cup of tea.
Oh and did I mention that the Kew Botanical Gardens are on the UNESCO World Heritage list?! So that’s +1 for me!!
The technical bits:
Visit the official Kew Gardens website: www.kew.org for how to get there, what’s on, price and more…
Next on here, let me take you on the tour of the Kew Palace!
Hi there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to take a look.
Welcome!! I hoe you will enjoy
I gotta favorite this site it seems invaluable very beneficial
I gotta favorite this web site it seems invaluable very helpful
Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was performing slightly research on that. And he just bought me lunch since I located it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch!
Hello! I would wish to supply a large thumbs up for your excellent information you can have here about this post. I’ll be coming back to your blog site for further soon.