Date: Tuesday 24th May

Coaches leave North Harbour: 9.00am

Organiser:D Whitbourne com5@shrets.co.uk

Booking Form:Download

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Visit Kew Gardens

Explore glasshouses, landscapes and 250 years of history at the world's most famous garden.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England.
The Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is responsible for the world's largest collection of living plants. The living collections include more than 30,000 different kinds of plants, while the herbarium, which is one of the largest in the world, has over 7 million preserved plant specimens. The library contains more than 750,000
volumes, and the illustrations collection contains more than 175,000 prints and drawings of plants. The Kew site includes four Grade I listed buildings and 36 Grade II listed structures in an internationally significant landscape.
Kew Gardens originated in the exotic garden at Kew Park formed by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury. It was enlarged and extended by Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, the widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales, for whom Sir William Chambers built several garden structures. One of these, the lofty Chinese pagoda built in 1761 still remains. George III enriched the gardens, aided by William Aiton and Sir Joseph Banks. The old Kew Park (by then renamed the White House), was demolished in 1802. The "Dutch House" adjoining was purchased by George III in 1781 as a nursery for the royal children. It is a plain brick structure now known as Kew Palace.
The Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and iron-maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron. The structure's panes of glass are all hand-blown. The Temperate house, which is twice as large as the Palm House, followed later in the 19th century.
It is now the largest Victorian glasshouse in existence.
Kew was the location of the successful effort in the 19th century to propagate rubber trees for cultivation outside South America.