Day 20

It's a short hop from Richmond to Kew Gardens - a mere 7 km. However, walking in Kew Gardens added a bit more making a grand total of 13.24 km for the day. Whilst the walk on the Thames Path was fairly standard stuff, Richmond and Kew Gardens offered much. Our hotel in Richmond was fine and the view from the top of the ridge was marvelous.

On leaving the hotel we visited an old palace (where Henry VII, VII and Elizabeth 1 lived for some time) - the Richmond Palace. We could only see the gate (not a lot more can be seen by the public).

Along the way to Kew, we had been told that the river gets a lot wider (by a chap in Hampton Court). Pity he didn't mention low tide - mud flats were very visible, even close to the Kew Bridge.

Having arrived at Kew very early (11.15 am; too ealy for check in) we left our backpacks in the hotel and spent over three hours in the Kew Gardens, entering through the nearest (Elizabeth) gate.

Our first stop was mad George III's palace. He and Charlotte had 15 children (don't know where they slept as the place was not very big). The medical help poor George had was quite primitive (bleeding with leeches etc.).

Visited the royal kitchens too.

However, we were here for the gardens'. Kew was started in 1759 and has amassed over 30,000 plant species from all over the world. This is quite a problem for a casual visitor (especially one with very little knowledge of botany) - should we take 100 or 1000 pictures?

Visited the famous glass house for 'Temperate' plants - one with a stunning array of flora.

The Palm House has a lovely flower garden next to the lake (apart from all the palms inside - hot & humid)

The Water lily House houses the most amazing Amazonian Water Lily.

Despite all the specialist areas (rock gardens, Alpine House, Bonsai House etc.) I was most impressed by the common or garden trees in the park.

There are some special trees too - including the Japanese Pagoda tree planted around 1760.

One species has survived for 200 million years and is going strong - the Ginko.

A tree that interested me most is the Wollemi Pine, seen only as fossils until 1994 when a live plant was found in Blue Mountains (N.S.W., Australia). It thrives now.

You can't do justice to such a large collection of plants in a few pictures and some words - so I'm not going to try.

Another day tomorrow; possibly only three more walking days to...?

Cheers