Kew Gardens has become one of our favourite places to visit throughout the year. I’ve posted about our previous days out last summer and autumn, and we were last there in February for the stunning Orchid Festival. There is plenty to see during spring at Kew Gardens, with landscape gardens, woodlands, glasshouses, historic buildings and more spread out across 300 acres.
We carried on through the gardens in the general direction of the Palm House, past beautiful, peaceful scenes such as this one where the magnolia trees are.
Related: Best Places to See Spring Flowers in London
Little T loves watching the ducks and geese, so we spent most of our time by the tranquil setting of the pond in front of the Palm House.
The Palm House is a Victorian iron and glass structure housing plants from around the world including tropical palms, cocoa, rubber and banana plants and fruit trees.
We made our way around the pond, past this beautiful cherry blossom tree…
And then up a hill to the woodland garden where the Temple of Aeolus stands. Originally designed and built in the 1760s, the temple was rebuilt in 1845 in stone and is now the focal point of this area that emulates a natural woodland.
The area was bursting with color with blossoming trees and a carpet of bluebells.
We clearly love visiting Kew Gardens, heading back there at least every two to three months. It’s close to where we live and always makes for a fun day out, with plenty for Little T to explore. It’s a beautiful place to visit year round but certainly springtime is a highlight to see the trees and flowers full of color and coming alive. For more about Kew Gardens, have a look at my summer post which includes the indoor Creepers and Crawlers play area, perfect for young children, and my autumn post when we walked along the Treetop Walkway high above the tree canopies.
Kew Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW8 3AB
Opening Hours: Until 29 August 2016: Monday to Friday – 1000 to 1830 (last entry 1800). Weekends and Bank Holidays – 1000 to 1930 (last entry 1900).
Tickets: Adult tickets are £15.00, children 3+ are £3.50 and children under 3 years go free. [Tickets purchased online are slightly cheaper – Adult £14.00, Children 3+ £2.50.] *You can pay an optional 10% donation which goes towards Kew Gardens’ conservation work. By agreeing to pay the donation, Kew Gardens can claim Gift Aid on the full ticket price if you are UK tax payer.
Closest Tube Station: Kew Gardens [District – Richmond brand and Overground services]
Parking: There is limited free parking around Kew Green (make sure to check for permit parking spots). Parking costs £7.00 for the day at the Kew Gardens car park (TW8 3AF) which is accessed by Ferry Lane, a narrow turning off Kew Green. From here, you’ll enter the gardens via Brentford Gate.
Good to Know
You can plan your visit to Kew Gardens with the comprehensive map on their website, which includes tick-boxes for selecting which attractions you would like to view on the map, such as “for kids”, “facilities” and “eat and drink”.
Kew Gardens offer plenty of interactive activities for children to get involved, learn and enjoy the outdoors. There’s a lot to explore, from the bee gardens, to the log trail, to the marine aquarium located in the Palm House.
Right next to the two play areas, you’ll find the White Peaks Café and Shop which has a salad bar and serves kid’s boxes, gourmet sandwiches, ice cream.
http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens
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Photalife
April 24, 2016 at 11:30 amKew gardens looks amazing, I’m hoping to visit in the Summer
Thank you for linking up
Bear and Cardigan
April 24, 2016 at 12:24 pmBeutiful pictures, you are lucky to have all that so close to home. #MySundayPhoto
Kim
April 24, 2016 at 2:34 pmOh wow! Beautiful photos!
I would love to visit one day x
tots2travel
April 24, 2016 at 5:13 pmThe blossoms and crocuses are lush. Kew isn’t cheap but it is impressive.
piccoloexplorer
April 25, 2016 at 12:53 pmIt is impressive and always so many fascinating things to see, definitely one of my favorite places in London.
piccoloexplorer
April 25, 2016 at 12:54 pmThanks so much! It’s a fantastic place year round, definitely recommend it.
piccoloexplorer
April 25, 2016 at 12:56 pmThanks! It’s been worth it each time we visited, really enjoy it there.
piccoloexplorer
April 25, 2016 at 12:58 pmThanks for hosting #MySundayPhoto! I highly recommend visiting, Kew Gardens is stunning and there’s so much to see and do there. They’re great at keeping the website up to date with what’s in bloom and suggestions for families. Hope you enjoy your visit!
Sarah
April 27, 2016 at 11:02 amSo gorgeous! Great photos. Kew gardens is beautiful. I love your photos so much. Sarah #wharevertheweather
Baby Isabella
April 27, 2016 at 7:46 pmWe’ve never been to Kew Gardens, but visited Belfast Botanic Gardens over the weekend which shares a similar Palm House created by the same ironmaster as the one a Kew. Looks like an amazing place! #whatevertheweather x
Chloe
May 1, 2016 at 2:03 pmHahaha I giggled at the fallen branch accompanying you on your walk. Evie does things like this too, so sweet. This is such a gorgeous place. All the colours, the baby pinks, the purples of the bluebells and the blue sky are stunning. It must be so peaceful. I’ve heard so many good things about Kew. Thank you so much for sharing with #whatevertheweather xx
Jenny
May 2, 2016 at 9:28 pmI’d love to visit Kew one day, it finitely looks like an amazing place to visit! Love that he found a giant branch to drag around with him, we had a similar branch follow us along part of our walk too, it took some convincing that it was too big to take home! Gorgeous photos! Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x