After a late start and a genuinely miserable breakfast—don’t ask—we got on the tube at Blackfriars for the ride out to Kew Gardens. Although the gardens lie pretty far to the west of town, the tube gets you there in a bit more than 30 minutes.
Kew seems to be a pleasant, prosperous little town, the residents presumably kept in good spirits by their proximity to the royal gardens. Those gardens offer much more than can be seen in a day: acres of planted beds; five different conservatories; a scientific laboratory that dates from the nineteenth century and continues to advance biological science; and a 300 acre pleasure park (arboretum).
The gardens themselves got their start, like so much in England, because of the presence of the monarch. Henry VII had built Richmond Palace, just up the Thames from Kew, in 1501, and courtiers began forming estates in Kew soon after. Henry Capellini, First Baron Capellini of Tewksbury, formed an exotic garden at Kew in the late 17th century; the garden was considerably expanded by Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, after the death of her husband in 1751. Several of the structures in the park, including the orangerie, date from the decade after 1760. The gardens became the National Botanical Garden only in the early 19th century.
We took in some of the spectacular borders, some of them extending more than 300 meters and then found ourselves in the area with some of the oldest trees in the park. Five of the trees, including a majestic ginkgo, date from the seventeenth century. We walked through one of the conservatories, housing a remarkable rain forest with displays of rare orchids and….carnivorous plants (some of which have been known to “eat” rats). Sue then spent some time in the geekiest part of the garden, a huge planted area that demonstrates and explicates plant evolution (the first director of the National Garden, William Hooker, was a friend of Darwin and contributed ideas and research to On the Origin of Species). I can now tell a pansy from a clematis, but this was a bit much for me, and I spent some pleasant moments relaxing in a small woodland.
Two of the conservatories are of real architectural interest. The Palm House was built by architect Decius Burton and the iron maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848; it was the first large-scale structural use of cast iron. It predates the Crystal Palace built in 1851 for the Great Exhibition, which is usually credited with being the first important glass and iron structure.
The Palm House was followed by the Temperate House, built by the same team in 1850. It is over twice as large as the Palm House and is the largest surviving Victorian glass structure.
A visit to the enormous Rose Garden was followed by a stroll down the central axis of the arboretum and across the large lake that bisects it. We finished the visit with a very nice glass of wine and headed back for the tube.
We met Andrew, Lucy, Evie, and Lotte Dechet at their mews house in Notting Hill and strolled with them to Ladbroke Square Gardens, the largest private garden in London. Residents within 100 meters of the garden can purchase a membership for a surprisingly modest fee. Quite a lovely place, with playgrounds, dog runs, extensive lawns, and even a tennis court. Some other parents saw Evie kicking around a soccer ball and asked if she wanted to join their boys’ soccer game. Little did they know: 9 year old Evie ate the lunches of several boys twice as tall as her. She is the striker for the Chelsea FC 9 and under football side, the only girl on the team.
We finished our visit with the Dechets with a very nice meal at the girls’ favorite Italian restaurant, though without Lucy, alas, who had a bad cold.
Back at the hotel, we had a drink at the lovely rooftop terrace, with sweeping views of the south bank of the Thames…and a more intimate view of the church next door.
Another lovely day.
