For my first day of (semi)-retirement we decided to visit the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. It’s been quite a few years since our last visit, ten in fact. The last time was a blustery winters day so we thought it would be good to see it at a different time of year.
It’s a relatively easy journey to Kew on public transport from Reading, albeit a slow one, with a 15 minute walk from Richmond to the Lion Gate. We were making use of a 2-4-1 voucher that we had which made the £20 entry per person slightly more palatable.
There was a slight pause when the lady at the counter said that their internet wasn’t working and they could only accept cash. I can’t remember the last time I carried any cash with me relying solely on my contactless cards to get me by. Helen saved the day though by finding a couple of tenners at the bottom of her bag.
All this brought to mind the recent furore on Twitter when it was seemingly announced that Starbucks were going to stop accepting cash from October (they’re not). This brought out the baying mob with their pitchforks demanding that we #BoycottStarbucks. I would have thought that a better reason to boycott them would be the awful cup of tea they make but maybe that’s just me. Either way a payment method that relies on internet availability is asking for trouble.
Once inside we had to decide where to wander and Helen, armed with her trusty map, plotted a course straight to the nearest cafe! Thirst now quenched we could get on with the gardens themselves.
The thing that I suspect most people associate with Kew are the two large glass houses, both of which are impressive and beautiful structures. One’s a hot house and the other temperate although having visited both today the content of each seemed pretty similar. In one you can climb a spiral staircase and take a walkway around the top of the house to look down on the canopy below giving a different perspective.
There is another way to go above the trees in Kew and that is on the treetop walk which I remembered well from our visit here last time. Unfortunately this time it was shut for maintenance which was a shame.
Our usual trick of walking a little bit away from the popular areas to avoid the crowds didn’t seem to work as well for us this time. Around every corner there was someone in sight which I found a little surprising. However, other corners held better surprises in the form of a couple of lovely herons. They seemed remarkably tame and looked majestic flying over the lake.
Having recently put a very small pond in our garden made from an old sink I was pleased to take a look at the Lilly House to compare theirs with mine. They were huge and I really hope mine don’t try to grow to that size!
I think that if I am honest I had expected Kew to be more like Wisley bursting with colour. There were flower beds but they were few and far between and the place had much more of the feel of a park such as Regents Park in London. It was attractive and was pleasant for a walk but I don’t think that it was worth £20 a head to me.