Far and away Kew Royal Gardens has been one of our main destinations for our time in London. We garden as a family and from that we grow lots of food and spend lots of time together. That food isn’t just made together, we eat it together. So gardening is a big part of our family.

On Thursday the 21st we pushed our walking legs hard. We covered the gardens from 10:00 am opening until 4:45. Des says his legs feel “BLEH!” . It really was a lot of walking but that is why we were talking long walks weeks ahead of time to get our scrawny legs ready for this.

The map helped us plan our path. We entered through the Victoria Gate (bottom centre) and went counter clockwise from the Palm House. The palms we spectacular, of course, with many varieties. Climbing up and experiencing them from above was a treat. It was roasting up there but it was no where near the temperatures on Tuesday.

After the Palm House we moved next-door to the Waterlily House. The size of the lilies was astounding. Easily two meters in diameter for the bigger ones.

The Princess of Wales Conservatory had the most variety of plants from so many different regions. It had carnivorous plants! Also it had the giant waterlilies call Victoria amazonica. We were even able to walk below the water line and see all different varieties of fish.

I took Des to the children’s garden. It had playground areas with equipment that focused on light, water, air, and earth. The air region had trampolines to jump up on. The water region had a water feature children could play with. It was great for him to run and get energy off that way.

Some notes for the day:

• The treetop walkway was great for its impressive view but made me a little claustrophobic.
• Desmond liked the children’s garden best because he liked running a playing.
• The lilies were HUGE!
• We startled the fish in the lake and they startled us right back.
• The kids did so well with all the walking.
• I liked the plants but I loved seeing how happy Heather was in her element.
• We will be BACK! Not right away. In a few years.

Here is a little montage I put together of the great things at Kew. It is on Instagram but you shouldn’t need an account to view it. Hope you enjoy them!

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A post shared by Aaron Ball (@mraaronball)