Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
popular public park at the same time. Kew began life in the eighteenth century as the
pleasure gardens of two royal estates, but it was Princess Augusta, the widow of Prince
Frederick, eldest son of George II, who turned the estate into the first botanic gardens
in the 1750s, with the help of her paramour, the Earl of Bute. Some of the earliest
specimens were brought back from the voyages of Captain Cook, instantly establishing
Kew as a leading botanical research centre. From its original eight acres the gardens
have grown into a 300-acre site in which more than 33,000 species are grown in
plantations and glasshouses, a display that attracts nearly two million visitors annually,
most of them with no specialist interest at all. The only drawbacks with Kew are the
hefty entry fee, and the fact that it's on the main flight path to Heathrow. That said, it's
a wonderful place with something to see whatever the season. Outside of the gardens,
there's not much reason to linger in Kew, although Kew Green, to the north of the
gardens, is quite pretty, and the National Archives lurk in the backstreets.
22
Royal Botanic Gardens
There are four entrances, Victoria Gate is a short walk from the tube down Lichfield Rd • Daily 9.30am-6.30pm or dusk; April-Aug closes
7.30pm at weekend; at weekends arrive early to avoid the queues • £14.50 •
T
020 8332 5000,
W
kew.org •
!
Kew Gardens
Most folk arrive at
Kew Gardens
by tube and enter via the
Victoria Gate
, where you'll
find the main shop and visitor centre, and the distinctive
campanile
, which
originally
served as the chimney for the furnaces below the glasshouses. Beyond lies the
Pond
,
home to two ten-ton Ming lions, and the best vantage point from which to appreciate
Kew's magnificent
Palm House
, which is a great place to start any visit to Kew.
The glasshouses
A curvaceous mound of glass and wrought iron, designed by Decimus Burton in the
1840s, the
Palm House
is the most distinctive of Kew's glasshouses. It nurtures most of
the known palm species in its drippingly humid atmosphere, while in the basement
there's a small, but excellent, tropical aquarium. From the Palm House, head north to
the diminutive
Waterlily House
, where a canopy of plants and creepers overhangs a
circular pond boasting spectacular, giant water lilies.
Further north still, is the rather less graceful
Princess of Wales Conservatory
, opened
in 1987. However, the cacti collection here is awesome, as are the giant koi fish that
swim stealthily beneath the pathways - look out, too, for the bizarre plants in the
insectivorous section. Immediately east, set amid Kew's gargantuan Rock Garden, is
the extraordinary
Alpine House
, a glasshouse shaped like the sail on the back of a
dimetrodon. Twice the size (and to the south) of the Palm House, and almost forty
years in the making, Decimus Burton's
Temperate House
is the largest glasshouse in
the world and is currently under restoration until at least 2018.
The eighteenth-century gardens
His mosque, waxworks, observatory and House of Confucius may be gone, but
several of the buildings William Chambers created in the 1760s for the amusement
of Princess Augusta remain dotted about the gardens. The most famous is his
ten-storey, 163ft-high
Pagoda
, Kew's most distinctive landmark, albeit minus the
eighty enamelled dragons that used to adorn it. Standing nearby in a sort of
miniature tea garden is the ornate
Japanese Gateway
, a scaled-down version of
KEW FOR KIDS
If you've kids with you, the good news is that they get in
free
. If it's raining, the
aquarium
beneath the Palm House usually goes down well, while under-10s will enjoy the indoor
interactive play area,
Climbers & Creepers
. If the weather's good, there's the
Treetop
Walkway
,
Treehouse Towers
- an outdoor play area full of ropes and ladders - a giant
Badger Sett
and the
Stag Beetle Loggery
, home to stag beetles and the like.
