Kew Gardens – Autumn visit

I recently went to Kew Gardens in West London; the last time I went was in school and I’d been meaning to go back ever since, especially as over the last couple of years there’s been some changes. For some reason or another I just wasn’t able to go, so a couple of weeks ago I decided not to wait anymore and just go. Initially I was a bit apprehensive about going in late autumn, as I imagined that most of the trees would have shed their leaves and there wouldn’t be much to look at, as well as the point that I always imagined going in late spring/early summer to see nature blossoming. In the end I decided to go anyway and see what there was to see, and learn from the experience.

I packed my DSLR camera to take with me and got there by mid morning. I was really lucky with the weather as it was nice and bright, and not grey and cloudy like it had been in previous days. I was also pleased to see that as we’ve had a mild autumn in London so far, most of the trees still had their leaves, and many were in now in brilliant shades of yellow, red and orange, which in the bright sun looked even more magnificent.

Here are a few of the photos that I was able to take whilst there, but what I didn’t realise was just how big the Gardens were- that after walking around for about 5 hours I still hadn’t managed to see all of it!

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Seeing as I managed to take lots of photos and because there’s was so much to see I’ve decided to do separate posts on different parts of Kew Gardens, this one being about the Palm House which houses plants from tropical and subtropical climates all over the world

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Here’s a banana tree with bananas growing from it, with leaves so big you could place two grown ups end to end and the leaves would still be bigger! There was also a pineapple plant – these pineapples were so tiny – the size of walnuts

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The walkways were full of leaves growing over it, giving you a an idea of how they would grow in their natural habitat

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There was a strange looking plant growing in the Palm House too called a Cycad, that is known as a living fossil. These plants have been around before dinosaurs, living up to 2500 years long!

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There is so much more to see but I don’t want to post too many photos of one area in case you want to visit the Gardens soon. I will hopefully be able to do another post soon on another part of Kew gardens

Magic walkway

This is the pathway that leads to St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall.
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Those who know about it, know that when the tide goes out the walkway becomes clear for you to walk on and leads you to the small island that has a castle or ‘mount’. The Island has many stories about it’s history, some factual, some in folklore, the most famous being it was once home to King Arthur.

Once the tide begins to come in the pathway begins to disappear beneath the waves (which I found out half way down on my way back to the mainland with my shoes getting soaked)

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Once the tide is completely in from afar it seems like the pathway never existed and was perhaps even magic!

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I’d love to hear your experiences of St Michael’s Mount and if you saw the tides coming in or out

Tree and steeple

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This photo is of the church St Martin of the Fields near Trafalger Square. I like the contrast of the light and dark colours of the tree and building against one another and the great sense of height that you get. But best of all I think I like the bright blue sky as the backdrop.