Kew Gardens

Iconic photo's of Kew gardens are everywhere, huge glass houses and beautiful kept gardens, on a sunny day there is nowhere better. 

We visited all the huge glasshouses, this lily pond house was our favourite, no giant lily or huge flowers on the day, but still hugely interesting. We have watched a year at Kew on TV and recognised this space. 

These huge leaves look so beautiful.

I loved the structure of the glass houses as much as the planting. 

Hubby with me all the way, it was very hot in the higher level, but worth the trip up.

Resting under trees, from the heat, I love to look up. 

Views everywhere

The Great pagoda, seen from so many angles

I did rather love the dragons on the outside,

 the sunlight shining on their golden wings. 

The city from level 7, we took 200+ steps to level 9 the top, with 30 minutes to take in the views, I took loads of photo's but preferred these from lower level. The Temperate house sitting in the parkland, when we booked the trip we decided it would be too much to go up, but once there it was an opportunity not to miss.

The Hive

Interesting and weird.

The only thing closed was the Treetop walk, sadly they were removing a summer art installation, we spent over 6 hours wondering around, we did not see the whole of the parkland, I enjoyed the woodland walk and the giant redwoods, hubby enjoyed the huge lake and all the birds, we did not see a squirrel all day, no rabbits, just birds and bugs. The flower gardens were starting to go over, but still full of colour and well looked after. Plenty of huge tree's over hundreds of years old, loads of different types, I would like to go again, I did almost 19,000 steps so lots of walking, but it felt restful and calm. 

The weather gods were good to us, it was bloody hot, but with plenty of shade and benches, loads of water fountains, loos, and places to eat, the only places uncomfortable was the higher levels in the huge glass houses, we did carry our own water bottles, which we could refill. 

We were both pleased we drove up on Sunday, visited Kew on Monday and drove home on Tuesday, it would have been impossible to do it as a day trip, we stayed in Hounslow, a borough I have never visited, just a small hotel, it was vibrant and very alive, far busier than our small part we call home. We used our bus passes in the end to get to Kew and back to hotel, enjoying the whole vibes of the area at a slower pace, better than rushing by on the train. 

Today we have been married 37 years, together 39 years, where has the time gone, I'm lucky they have been happy years, we have a good partnership, together we face everything, personal health scares, Covid, and with our families we plan a happy future.