The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, is a fantastic day out for those that love to see greenery and flowers perfectly landscaped. Kew Gardens is a special place, so much so it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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They have a vast selection of plants, trees and flowers for visitors to see. You can buy tickets cheaper online at Get Your Guide.
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew are a very tranquil place and great fun to explore. Despite its beauty, one of my highlights was the ultra-friendly squirrels, one of which climbed my leg and mugged me of some nuts.
Getting to Kew Gardens in London on The Train
I got to Kew gardens using the tube from Paddington Station in central London. The journey takes about 45-minutes. From Paddington you get the District Line to Earls Court, then change trains to the District line heading towards Richmond. It is on the district line between Earls Court and Richmond. There are other options available to travel, including busses, taxis or if you fancy a long 2-hour walk.
What to See and Do at Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew
There are loads of things to see and do when visiting the Royal Botanical Gardens. On one visit, you might not get to see it all. I certainly didn’t. There are some fantastic landscapes, garden features and other fun things to do. I enjoyed wandering aimlessly to see what popped up, however there are maps to enable you to find specific features.
Explore the Arbouretum
The key feature is the arboretum that covers two-thirds of the grounds surrounding most buildings. This arboretum is a unique collection of 14000 trees from 2000 species. Some trees here are as old as Kew Gardens, and you cannot see others anywhere else in the UK.
Some of the special heritage trees include the Japanese pagoda tee, the Luccombe oak, and the black locust tree. The site also has giant redwoods and some mighty oak trees.
Peruse The Flowerbeds
Dotted around The Royal Botanical Garden are some rather impressive flowerbeds. These come in an array of colours from many flower types. These are fantastic to see and photograph.
See Plants Up Close
While visiting Kew, you can get up close to some flowers and really see how beautiful they are. Some are unique to look at, including the beauty above. If you know what this is, please comment below.
See Pollinators at Work
With flowers comes pollinators and the gardens have many, including bumblebees and regular honey bees, to name a few.
Kew Palace
As this is a Royal Gardens, it contains a royal palace in the form of Kew Palace. The palace complex dates back to 1631. However, the main remaining part is called the Dutch House. The Dutch House is a grade I listed building and open to the public. It is rather a photogenic place and fits in well in the gardens.
The palace was formerly a home of George III and Queen Charlotte. Inside the palace, they tell the powerful story of King George III, his mental illness, and the members of his family who lived and died here.
See The Temple of Arethusa
The Temple of Arethusa is a white Romanesque building that is rather pretty. They built this as a memorial to the Kew Guild Members and Royal Botanic Staff, who died because of the first and second world wars.
The Hive
The Hive is a rather impressive work of art in the gardens. They designed it as a tribute to Britain’s honeybees. It is 17 metres tall and is basically a hive relative to human size. They built the mesh frame from 170000 aluminium parts and 1000 LED lights, a massive engineering feat. Flowers surround the area by The Hive, adding to its impressiveness.
Princess of Wales Conservatory
The Princess of Wales Conservatory is a rather fascinating place to visit and see plants from warmer climates. This includes species from deserts and the tropics. It has ten climate zones for visitors to explore and see some interesting things.
Some highlights of the conservatory are cacti, tropical orchids and the lily pads from the Amazon.
Cactus Section
The room of the Princess of Wales Conservatory with the cacti was rather impressive. There are some beautiful cactus to see, and some giant examples. There is something interesting to see at every turn in this section.
Amazon Greenhouse
One of the most impressive things I saw was the giant waterlily Victoria amazonica in the Amazon section of the greenhouse. These float in the wet tropical zone, the lily’s spectacular white flowers open at sunset, filling the air with a strong perfume before it is pollinated and turn bright pink by the morning. However, all the plants in the section were very fascinating to see up close.
Nash Conservatory
From the outside, the Nash Conservatory is a rather impressive building with some very nice while columns. They formerly based the Nash Conservatory in Buckingham Palace, but they moved it brick by brick back in 1836. Now that’s dedication. This building is used to host events, including corporate days, product launches, and more. From the outside, it looks a great place to host something special.
King William’s Temple and Mediterranean Garden
The Mediterranean Garden is a beautiful place with an impressive diversity of plants within it. This is a more recent addition which they built it in 2007 to recreate the landscape of Southern Europe. Plants here include Tuscan olive trees, Italian cypress, lavender and stone pones to name a few. In the middle of the Mediterranean Garden stands King William’s Temple, which was built in 1837 for Queen Victoria, in memory of William IV. This is a lovely place and they have hit the spot here.
Treetop Walkway
One of by favourite parts of Kew gardens was the treetop walkway where you get to walk around high in the trees. The walkway is rather high and not for the feint hearted, however it is very safe in reality.
The views from here are splendid and nice to see treetops up close. You can see many pars of the botanic gardens from here and also the tes up close.
Great Pagoda
What a gift. They completed the Great Pagoda in 1762 as a gift for Princess Augusta. She was the founder of these magnificent gardens. The tower is magnificent to look at and is one of many Chinese inspired features. Also, the views from the pagoda are splendid too, apparently. Sadly, I had run out of time on my visit to explore inside.
Kew Lake
The lake at Kew has about five acres of water with five islands and is a haven for wildlife. They created the lake in 1856 after digging gravel for the original temperate house. They connected the nearby River Thames to the lake, which filled it with water for the first time in 1861.
Swans in The Lake
At the lake in Kew are families of many wildfowl, including swans, mallard, geese and coot. If you time your visit right, you will get the chance to see swans with young cygnets which are rather cute. Also by the lake are the squirrels that are rather tame and partial to nuts from tourists’ pockets.
Sackler Crossing
The Sackler Crossing is an s-shaped bridge that crosses the lake and has some splendid views. The Sackler crossing opened in 2006 after being designed by the architect John Pawson.
Cast Iron Rotunda in the Queen’s Garden
Another pleasant part to see is the Queen’s Garden. A pleasant feature to see is the Cast Iron Rotunda, which is rather decorative. The Queen’s garden features plants and architectural styles that were popular in the 17th century.
A Map For Finding What To See
To help you find your way around the gardens and find specific features, they have some handy maps. These show all the main parts of the botanic gardens.
Are The Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London Worth Visiting?
The Royal Botanical gardens in Kew, London are fantastic to explore, and the variety of things to see makes it very interesting. You can certainly see why UNESCO listed this as a World Heritage Site. There’s lots of walking involved, thus quite an active day out. The displays were educational too and were quite engaging. To explore fully, you need to visit a few times, possibly in different seasons.
I imagine in autumn the trees’ changing colour is spectacular. My highlights were the tropical plants in the greenhouses and the treetop walkway for its splendid views. I would love to return and see in more detail, especially the parts I skimmed past, including the views from the Great Pagoda. You can find out information about visiting from their Website.