Kew Gardens

I hadn't been to Kew Gardens before, Jackie had once, but it was somewhere we wanted to go together before moving back to NZ.

Last weekend we made the decision to go. The weather was nice so we packed a lunch an headed to the train station.

Streatham Common - Clapham Junction - Kew Bridge Station and then a short walk.

It cost £16 per adult to get in which is very steep for a park but we knew that before we went and planned on getting our moneys worth by spending a good portion of the day there.

They have an exhibition on at the moment called IncrEdible - all about edible plants.

These mushrooms aren't real

They're made of wicker

Theo loved the fungi

As a fancy park no ball games are allowed, we broke the rules! Here's Jackie hoofing the ball, Theo chased it around the park, it was great fun to do this without any dogs around (not allowed).

This was Jackie's favourite, it was a huge table set for tea with plants growing in pots and out of plates. All the plates were screwed in to place. The plants were ingredients for things, we sat next to a cherry tree and almond tree, both which were labelled for a bakewell tart. 

One of the staircases in the famous glasshouse. We had the buggy so didn't go up, although Jackie has confessed she wouldn't have gone up any way.

The glasshouse with vege garden planted out front, on the right towards the back you can see the corn. 

Hydrangeas, one of Jackie's favourites. 

Not only were we mean enough to dress Theo in a pink polo, when he was sleeping we took a photo of him with matching flowers. 

Not sure it really comes through but this tree is one of the original trees planted in the garden, it grew horizontally an had brick reinforcing to stop it falling over. 

Another shot of the glasshouse with the lake. You could hire boats on the lake, lots of people did, many of them ha no idea how to row a boat so it was good fun to watch. 

After the gardens we went to Kew Gardens station, where we stopped to get a coffee before getting the train home.

At Streatham Common station we stopped at the Railway pub, which is fast becoming a favourite, they're very child friendly.

Here's Jackie and Theo taking a break. The little girl on the right was Theo's girlfriend, although she thought Theo was a girl (he'll never forgive us for putting him in the pink shirt). The girl's mother and friends, had a couple of other kids with them and told us not to worry about Theo if he was with them, we kept an eye on the kids from our position and managed to stop them escaping on a few occasions. While Theo was off playing with the other kids we managed to get an extra pint in. 

All in all a great day.

The next day we went for a walk to Streatham Common park, we'd not really explored it before and thought we'd give it a go. The main bit isn't very appealing and we weren't sure if there was more to it. Just as we were about to give up we found the Rookery, a really peaceful manicured garden. By this time we were getting pooped and ready for food, we saw there was more to explore so might try and get back there before we go. Theo had a big run around and we thought he'd fall asleep in time for us to have a sit down lunch somewhere, no such luck. But we did have a nice coffee and pick up some fresh bread for sandwiches.

So a great weekend exploring some new places that we can tick off our list.