Kew Gardens

We went with Emma to Kew Gardens today. Emma has a 'friends' pass so her and Ann had free entry, I had to pay.  There were two main attractions on our list, the newly opened renovated temperate house and the hive.

The temperate house has had an enormous amount of work, at an enormous cost. It is an amazing space, keeping all the original structural features, replaced where necessary, fifteen thousand planes of glass for instance.  There is a walkway high above looking down on the hundreds of trees and plants from the temperate areas of the world. Main picture.

The Hive is a massive modern installation build along the lines of a bee hive.  There is a glass-floored upper section where soothing music play and random lights go on and off depending on vibrations from a local bee hive.  People were sitting round the edges using the space as a relaxation area. The Hive is situated in the middle of a large area of wild grasses and flowers, also part of the installation and planted to attract the bees. Extra picture.

We had lunch at the main reception restaurant then walked over to Kew Palace to take a look round as we've never been there before.

All in all an excellent, if tiring, day.  Kew Gardens is worth visiting at any time of the year and needless to say I took lots of photos.

Tea later with Emma at Wagamama, great far eastern food!