This all started when I asked Deb if she was doing the blog today, she had after all been taking notes all morning. No she said, I have just been recording flowers I have been taking pictures of (there were lots ? ), and besides, she had done all the other gardens!
So let’s begin and start with an apology for all gardeners out there who were expecting something more than my description of Kew Gardens.
After leaving home at 8:30am, 2 buses later we arrived at Kew, and were queued up 10 minutes early waiting for the gates to open at 10am. It started drizzling, we got into a conversation with the guy at the gate, and Deb mentioned rain wasn’t forecast. He laughed and said, this is England. Fortunately it didn’t last long.
We walked straight over to Kew Palace, and got there in no time. Now, they call this a Palace, but to me it is more of a large home, along the lines of Martindale Hall in Mintaro SA. It’s a three storey manor, with about 6 rooms a floor, a big square box like building. It is called a Dutch House. It has been a royal house between 1728 and 1818. King George III bought the house in 1781. It appeared that King George III and Queen Charlotte, and their 15 children had most requirements. George III slowly went mad while living there and at one point was tied to a chair and given an ultimatum, either he stayed by himself in a single room or be put “under care”, he hated his doctors and chose the “freedom” of his room. Eventually George III died and Charlotte lived in the Palace with her children until they finally moved to Windsor after his 4th and last bout of madness. George III and Charlotte were both dead by 1818. In the year of their deaths, they managed to hold a double wedding of their sons William (of King William and Queen Adelaide fame) and Edward.
George III was responsible for a lot of the building erected in Kew Gardens, many of the glass houses were erected under his direction.
Kew Gardens is a large open area, with a mix of woodlands, grassy areas and gardens. There are three very large glass house complexes in the gardens, The Temperate House and Palm House are both very grand old worlde style buildings, in both, there are staircases that take you to viewing paths/gantries, within the glasshouse that give you views down over the plants inside. The Princess of Wales Conservatory is a modern incarnation of a grand glasshouse, with displays from desert to tropical.
An artist whose work we have seen at the V & A Museum and in the Claridges, Chihuly, has 32 installations on display throughout the gardens. He works are complex Mirano Glass. All were interesting, but we both wondered whether the gardens were a good choice for many of them. A few, one in the fern house, one in the lily house and a stand alone installation complemented the garden surrounds, but most of the others were more of a distraction.
Overall, Kew Gardens was not what we expected. Rather than being English flower gardens they are wide expanses of open space, overall more like an arboretum than a Garden per se. The later installations in the gardens, The Beehive ( a large metal structure that vibrates in a hum like bees) and the Treetop walk add an extra dimension to the gardens. It is worth a visit, but maybe not at the top of your list, there are better gardens (Hampton Court comes to mind)
For dinner we went around to a local pub, The Windmill, famous for it’s pies. I had a Steak and Mushroom Pie with mash, and Deb had a Fish Pie, with a serve of mushy peas. ? We both enjoyed the meals, the atmosphere and the company.
Donald Trump is in town. His presence is causing all sorts of disruption in London due to the security arrangements for the US President.
On another aside, I meant to put this in another blog, but here will do. When we did one of our Thames Riverboat rides we were told the origins of the term “Wharf”, apparently it stands for WareHouse, At the River Front. Well I thought it was interesting!
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Great post Greg, very informative another busy day and dinner sounded delish.