The Royal Botonic Gardens at Kew

And here I thought Kew Gardens was in Queens!

On an earlier day we arrived at the Gardens around 4 pm due to a late and leisurely lunch at a very good Italian restaurant. We were advised that the Gardens closed at 5:30 pm and we wouldn't have time to see much. So we decided to go back another time and make a day of it (easy to do when you have 2 weeks and little on the "must do" list).

I thought that the visit would just be a day of pretty flowers. Was I wrong! First of all the place is enormous (300 acres). There are formal gardens, informal gardens, meadows, conservatories, glasshouses, Japanese gardens and even a tree top walkway 60 feet up(it was closed for repair when we were there though). Also this year is their 250th anniversary.

Another thing I learned is that Kew is one of the leading organizations focused on conservation of plant species. A major project of theirs is called the Millennium Seed Bank Project and, by the end of next year, they will have banked seed from over 10% of the worlds most endangered plants.

It felt like a day in the British countryside! All in all is was, as the Brits often say, "quite lovely".