One of the more exciting elements of organising an entirely outdoor event for the Cambridge Society of London is predicting what the weather will do on the day, but thankfully for our tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew we needn’t have worried. Not just because the morning dawned dry and clear but because we discovered on our walk round this world famous site that it is full of the most magnificent historic greenhouses and galleries as fascinating to explore as the 18th century vistas outside. With the help of our very experienced and knowledgeable guides, Arabella and Angela, we discovered some of Kew’s many hothouse treasures. The Palm House shelters the oldest pot plant in the world, brought from South Africa in the 1770s, while the newly opened Temperate House contains 10,000 individual plants, some of which are now extinct in their original habitats.
Outside in the gardens we were shown an ancient japonica tree planted in the 1760s and requiring so much support and reconstruction over the years it’s been christened “Joan Collins” by the staff, and flowerbeds that cannot be altered as they are Grade I listed. We were also told about the work the scientists at Kew do, advising on farming techniques across the world, and how Kew is the authority on the quarantine of rare plants coming into the U.K.
After the tour members had the run of the gardens to explore in their own time. As one lady said to me, she’d always wanted to go to Kew but it was only when she saw a CamSocLon tour that she decided to do it. That to me is the point of a CamSocLon event – being encouraged to look at familiar places in London with fresh eyes and hopefully discovering something new and enjoyable in the process.
Organised by Sarah Sarkhel
