30 June 2016 - Chertsey Club Site, Surrey

The Hive

It seems to me, and surely to you, the reader, that this blog is all about the weather, or more particularly, about the rain. It is this that makes England such a “green and pleasant land”, but it does not make it entirely a pleasant land to sightsee in. I woke through the night several times to hear the English rain, and wondered whether there would be respite by dawn, or more correctly, breakfast time. I mention this because dawn occurs here before 5 am and the sun sets after 9.30 am, making for long daylight hours for the birds and those who align their activities with the same. Needless to say, I try to sleep beyond sunrise, and sometimes even before sunset; I am not one to burn the candle at both ends.

By the time we were ready to leave, the rain had cleared away for the morning, and we were soon on the road toward London City, to Kew Gardens, where the tour notes suggested parking spaces were few and encouraged visitors to come via public transport. Given the hassle free journeys of the previous few days, Chris was happy enough to risk yet another city drive, and was soon vindicated. 

We arrived very soon after 9.30am, too early for the Gardens to open, but early enough to choose our own spot in the expansive car park. It seemed that the warnings were scarmongering, and did not prove otherwise later, although we decided that mid-summer holiday visitors may place far greater pressure on the facility. Better still, there was a fixed charge for the privelege of parking, £7 for the day or part thereof. I realise my positive attitude toward this defies my comments made about the parking charge at the Tarr Steps on Exmoor; allow me this change of heart.

The Pagoda

We spent more than six and a half hours at the Gardens, but barely touched the surface. We checked out the Treetop Walkway, opened on International Biodiversity Day in 2008; the 18 metre high, 200 metre walkway high in the tops of lime, sweet chestnut and oak trees in the arboretum between the Temperate House and the lake.  Alas the dozens and dozens of children there today as part of some sort of educational outing had decided to do the same and the noise and crowding spoiled any enjoyment we might have otherwise had.

We checked out The Hive which had warranted a special hand out with our ticket. This is a massive instalment made from thousands of pieces of aluminium which create a lattice effect and fitted with hundreds of LED lights that glow and fade as a unique soundtrack hums and buzzes about one. 

The Treetop entry point

We wandered about the gardens seeking an overview only, as we had booked in for a walking tour, an introduction to Kew Gardens. Our tour guide, a retired teacher, walked us through the highlights of the gardens, and the centuries of history and then left us outside the Princess of Wales Conservatory after one and a half hours. We enjoyed the tour immensely, however we now realised, more than ever, that it would require far more than a full day to do justice to this excellent attraction.

We did however decide to squeeze in Kew Palace, the summer residence for George III, his wife Charlotte and his fifteen children, and refuge when the madness set in in his later years. This was brilliantly presented and curated; we enjoyed this immensely. The King’s kitchens, unearthed within the last decade, were a bonus.

The Palm House

Kew Gardens today cover an area of 300 acres and have the world’s largest collection of living plants. It began as a more modest affair, the site of a royal garden established at the request of Princess Augusta, the mother of George III, in 1759. She and her husband, Frederick, who died before his father, and whose son inherited the crown leaping a generation, lived at Kew next door to Charles II’s summer residence at Richmond. In 1802 George III united the two properties, hence the large acreage. The Palm House, the massive grass construction which dominates the centre of the park, was opened in 1848.

During the Victorian era, and the years before when the likes of Joseph Banks was bringing the wonders of the other side of the world back in specimen jars, Kew Gardens became the depository for plants in all forms. Today, the herbarium, which is the largest in the world, has over seven million preserved plant specimens. The library contains more than 750,000 volumes, and the illustrations collection contains more than 175,000 prints and photographs.

Today it was while we were checking out some of those illustrations, the small proportion on view to the public, that we received a telephone call from Chris’s sister to inform us that their brother, whose birthday party we are heading back toward East Anglia for, had been admitted to hospital. 

Fortunately subsequent calls during the course of the day have allayed our initial concerns, now that we know he is suffering kidney stones, a very unpleasant and painful condition, but in this day and age, easily cured.

Kew Palace

So caught up in our experiences today, we did not return to the car park until almost 4.45pm, a ridiculous time to be considering a drive home in the London rush hour, and sure enough, it took us almost one and a half hours to do a trip that had taken less than half an hour earlier in the day. In all fairness, our Tomtom, for reasons that only she can know, brought us home via the M4, M25 and M3, surely the busiest roads in the UK. To make matters worse, there was an extra holdup caused by a small modern car engulfed in an inferno on the inner lane of the M25. The two young people, who had obviously been in the car, stood dejectedly at some distance, one with a phone to his ear, no doubt begging a parent or friend to come and rescue them. As we passed all too close, I did hope that the petrol tank would not explode; we continued without any such disaster, albeit still caught in slow traffic.

Tomorrow we will head away from London, not too far this time, although none of our moves have been very far. We have booked to stay in Cambridge for the next four days, before pressing on closer to family in Suffolk.