Kew Gardens

The Pagoda

A family outing to Kew Gardens. We parked by the river and entered the gardens at Brentford Gate and then made a leisurely clockwise circuit.

The gardens originated in 1759 when Princess Augusta, mother of George III, started a 9 acre garden around the royal palace. So it was fitting that the first thing we saw was the royal palace. It was built in 1631 and leased by the royal family in 1728. George III lived there from 1802.



A little further along is the Orangery, a building of 1761 by Sir William Chambers who designed most of the buildings to be seen at Kew - including the celebrated Pagoda. It was used originally to grow oranges, but this use lapsed. When orange-growing was reintroduced it was found to be damaging the fabric of the building so it again ceased; the Orangery is now a restaurant.



Just beyond the Orangery is another handsome structure: the Nash Conservatory. It was originally one of four pavilions designed by John Nash for Buckingham Palace and was moved to Kew in 1836 and then adapted to be a glass house.



Now we focused more on the plants and visited the Secluded Garden and then went into the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The initial Wet Tropics zone had a wonderful temporary Butterflies, bugs and beasties event which was just wonderful. We joined groups of school kids in rapt admiration of the dozen or so species of tropical butterflies. Eventually the heat and humidity forced us out.

We then walked round the lake opposite Decimus Burton's great Palm House and climbed the spiral staircase for a high level tour of the central area.



Then round the back of the Palm House, through the newish Rose Garden to the Waterlily House. This small building contained a selection of startlingly beautiful lilies.



Now we walked along the long grassy Pagoda Vista, the vista being spoiled only by a temporary marquee which had been erected half way along. We passed the Temperate House, again by Decimus Burton and the largest surviving Victorian glass structure.



After a pause for lunch we reached and admired the Pagoda. It is 50m high and dates from 1762. It was built apparently as a surprise for Princess Augusta. It must have been quite difficult to keep its construction secret!

Round the corner is the beautiful Japanese Gateway with its lovely Japanese gardens around it.



From here we slightly doubled back to find the Treetop walkway.



This fascinating construction, 18m high, offers views of the treetops and back over the Temperate House. At ground level you can descend to the Rhizotron and find out about the roots of trees.

We however carried on to the lake which dates from 1861. We crossed the sinuous Sackler Crossing, the work of John Pawson, opened in 2006. The lake was home to an interesting collection of ducks and I was especially struck by the orange-beaked Red-crested Pochard.



Conditions: very hot (mid 20s), but with a relieving breeze much of the time.

Distance: we managed to walk nearly 5 miles altogether.

Rating: five stars. So much to see in such a beautiful environment.


Butterfly of the day

I can't identify this beautiful spotted Swallowtail, but it was the most successful of my efforts to photograph the butterflies in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.



Reflections

I am very conscious that this account focuses mainly on the built environment. It is a special interest of mine, obviously, but it also gives the Gardens structure, variety and interest - like sculpture in a smaller garden, or follies in an 18th century park. That said, one could describe another, very different-seeming, walk by reference to trees (of which of course there are many magnificent specimens) or flower plantings (likewise) and that must be a project for the future.

Volcji Potok arboretum

 
Another outing from Ljubljana, this time to the Volcji Potok arboretum, about about 45 mins from the city. It was surprisingly easy to find, being signposted from the motorway. It was once a Baroque mansion surrounded by a park. The mansion was destroyed during the second world war and the arboretum was established by the University of Ljubljana in 1952.

You walk up a tree lined avenue from the entry to reach the arboretum proper. In the photo above there is a cleverly constructed projection of what the mansion once looked like. The grounds are arranged in a kind of V shape around a central hill. We followed a clockwise route around the various areas, starting with the red Maple lake.



We then followed the left side of the V past a colourful group of azaleas and rhododendrons.



On the right was another pond from which ear-splitting sounds emerged from time to time. Close study revealed the presence of natterjack toads, presumably engaged in their courtship ritual.



The next large area was mainly given over to grass on which a number of plastic replica dinosaurs were strategically placed. We were unmoved by this, but it was lovely to her the excited shouts of small children as they entered the area. Off to one side was a typical flower meadow, with the usual, frustrating, lack of butterflies.

We walked back down to the base of the V for a restorative drink and ice cream and then addressed the right hand side which had a more park-like quality, with some large variously coloured trees.



Another nearby lake had colourful yellow flags and we were surprised when disturbances to the water surface were revealed to be turtles, rather than the large fish we had seen in the other ponds. There was also what seemed to be a replica heron, but it wasn't, as it soon took off and perched in an ungainly fashion in a tree.

Finally, we went to see the orchid house which we had missed on our initial route round. This purple one caught the eye.



Conditions: very hot - mid 20s.

Distance: we walked about 3 miles.

Rating: four stars. An oasis of quiet and calm. Probably better for flowers and wildlife than for trees. The trees perhaps needed more signage and information to highlight for us what we were seeing.

Westonbirt Arboretum

In the Acer glade

We decided to drop into Westonbirt on the way back from a flying visit to Somerset. I had got the idea from an interesting piece on autumn walks in last Saturday's Daily Telegraph. We didn't arrive until nearly 4pm, when it was already getting dark, and initially it seemed that we might have made a wasted effort. However, although we saw less than we had expected, the great benefit of arriving late in the day was that most people had already left, or at least were on their way out - the number of cars in the car parks, and the trampled muddy grass, strongly indicated that massive numbers had been there earlier in the day. I took fewer photographs than I would have wished, but at least they weren't full of other people taking photographs.

We had read about the seasonal trails through the arboretum and in the time available before dusk we opted to follow shorter trail, through the Old Arboretum (the other trail goes through the much larger Silk wood).

Leaving the restaurant/shop complex, you follow a mud path into the Old Arboretum and are quickly presented with the Savill Glade, an area of mature trees dating back to when the Arboretum was founded in the 1850s by Robert Stayner Holford.



Soon the path leads to the first of many wonderful Japanese maples (acer palmata).



Then you reach Holford Ride, with Westonbirt House (a school since 1928) framed at the end. One might think that the ride was laid out in order to see and be seen from the house, but in fact the reverse is true. Holford knocked down the house built by his father only 40 years earlier and built Westonbirt House, positioned in such a way that he could look down Holford Ride.



A few steps from here brings you to the Acer Glade, epicentre of the autumn colours at Westonbirt. Apart from the colours, the shapes of the trees and their sinuous branches add interest and beauty.



Further on, we marveled at this Oriental Plane, with its multiple trunks and great spreading canopy.



And in Specimen Row, we were staggered to learn that the beautiful Ginkgo, with its delicate, butterfly-like leaves, was the first tree to evolve, some 250 million years ago.



Distance: no more than 1.5 miles.

Rating: four stars. A wonderful experience. A gentle, winding walk through a garden devoted only to trees, planted in the aesthetic or romantic style - for appearance or effect and not in formal rows. We know we have only scratched the surface and can't wait to return.