Queueing at Kew

So it has been a few weeks since I wrote on this blog this has mainly been due to the lack of internet whilst moving house but now i'm back and back online.

So...what have I done this week that could be classed as creative. Well this week my parents came visiting and we went on a trip to Kew Gardens. Firstly the place 'Kew Gardens' is a lovely little place feeling like a quaint English village whilst still being on the district line. The florists, butchers (with homemade pork pies), the fish and chip shop and the railway pub only added to this feel. On arriving at the gardens after being amused by the fact we were 'queueing at kew' we were all a little bit taken a back by the price at over £15 a ticket it wasn't cheap. But after the realisation that a yearly ticket is only about £32 for frequent visitors it isn't outrageous.


The gardens were equally as large with over 121 hectares it was concluded that perhaps we had found the perfect summer picnic spot. Although I feel the queues would be pretty large. At the time of year we arrived at the gardens the majority of people wandering round were weekend photographers taking pictures of plants. Which I have to admit made me a little reluctant to pull out my camera as I didn't want to become 'one of them'. However as you can see I was momentarily 'one of them' as were my sisters as you can see by the bark photo taken by my sister.


On arriving we were offered the guide at which point we declined realising that perhaps Wikipedia/the internet would provide just as many facts about the gardens as we would find from the garden. In addition the signs around the garden were amazingly helpful. So here are a couple of facts about Kew you may not know:

Over 700 people are employed by Kew Gardens

The Gardens were handed to the nation by Queen Victoria

The palm house is largest Victorian glass house in existence

The Chinese Pagoda was built in 1761 by William Chambers

We also accidentally discovered a way of finding out more information about the garden. The gardens have a tourist bus (costing £1.99) pulled along by a little cart which meanders its way around the park. As we were wondering down one of these paths we made way for one of these buses who's pace I can now describe as walking pace as with little effort we were now following the tour bus with full commentary blaring out of the bus as to the history of the gardens. Perhaps this may not be considered the best way to tour the park as the tour guide might get angry but for snippets of information recommended.

As is the tradition of my blogs so far, I shall also review the cafes. Kew's cafes as one would perhaps expect were pretty up market with a good selection of tasty things to enjoy. I can recommend the broccoli and stilton soup! As I did not peruse the cafe much I can not give a better review.

The gardens were lovely and well worth a visit at least once, however, what stuck me most about the gardens was that the 'bubble' feel you get as you walk around, as you could not tell you were in a city. For a great escape this place is recommended.

So what else do I have to offer...well in between now and my last post I have been given a photography course for my birthday and a book on photography and so I shall be upgrading my photography skills AND I was given an icing piping bag with nozzles so hopefully I'll learn how to create funky cakes!