Over 200 years ago, Britain’s royalty headed down to Kew each summer. Often known as ‘Farmer George’, the king loved plants and growing things. So it is perhaps not surprising that Kew has become renowned worldwide for its gardens, causing visitors of all nationalities probably staying in comfortable Aparthotels London to make their way southwards to Kew.
The extensive gardens are a delight to visit, with beautiful flower beds, fragrant flowers and stunning trees. Green lawns encourage you to sit and relax, or enjoy long walks to explore the parkland. Tucked away in the massive greenhouses are vast displays of exotic flowers, including many that are unusual and rare. These are gardens devoted to research, to conserving plants that might otherwise face extinction. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew hold comprehensive seed collections gathered from all over the world.
There is a wide range of activities at Kew while a resident at affordable Holiday Apartments London, providing something for everyone in the family. You can explore the Hive – a 17 metre high vision of translucent walls which allow you to discover the life of bees. This is definitely an unusual attraction. Standing inside you are surrounded by a constantly changing intensity of light and sound, just like bees would experience in a real beehive.
If you have a head for heights, the incredible Tree Top Walkway may be to your taste. You do have to climb a large number of steps in order to reach it since it is situated 18 metres above the ground. Once there, you follow a winding path through the tops of trees giving you a birds eye view of all that lies beneath. The walkway is somewhat unusual in its design since it is inspired by the mathematical Fibonacci numerical sequence that frequently appears in plants. The experience does not end once you reach the ground, as the next stage takes you underground to find out about the composition of the soil in which plants grow.
Not too far from beautiful Presidential Apartments Kensington, the Tree Top Walkway is not the only tall structure within Kew Gardens. Also worth visiting is the stunning Chinese Pagoda, built in 1762 when Kew was a royal residence. Kew Palace itself is one of the smallest of all the existing royal palaces, but is a very pretty site and offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of Georgian England – a world very familiar to Jane Austen. Although there is no evidence she visited Kew, she did know the type of kitchens and lifestyle on show nowadays at Kew.
The Royal Kitchens have only recently been restored. There are food preparation rooms to see, where scullery boys would have spent hours scouring pans with sand and soap to get them clean. The great kitchen is definitely impressive, with its massive eighteenth century door, roasting range, charcoal grill and pastry oven. Quiet now, it would be been a hive of activity in when the king was in residence.
