This time last week it was a glorious Summer's Day, today we're well into Autumnal weather, don't get me wrong I love those sunny crisp Autumn days, but this drizzle is far from enjoyable, impedes plans and brings with it colds! And yes I'm now the proud owner of a head cold.

So I'm convalescing on the sofa in a blur of Cbeebies trying to keep the toddler entertained whilst I feel wretched. My mind is therefore wandering back to our gorgeous day last week at Kew Gardens. Despite it being just down the road from me I hadn't been for about 15 years! My cousin and her little Girl, who's only a few months older than Matilda, were staying with us so where better to go for a run around?


Here are the two girls at Kew's Victoria Gate waiting for their run around. Of course not before their Mummies had a quick look in the gorgeous shop, I could have spent a fortune on plants, cards and candles but I was restrained and only came out with a book on Birds, being a city girl I can only recognise Penguins and Robins, at £3.99 I couldn't put it back on the shelf.




So off we went on our mammoth walk round Kew, it's surprisingly big especially as we ended up getting slightly disorientated, Kew take note your map is not that clear! We did find the newly opened children's area, Treehouse Towers, where we let the girls loose, great tree themed climbing frames and the Indoor play area were fantastic. Seems like hundreds of other people had also come to make the most of a sunny day, Matilda nearly got knocked over several times by the bigger kids, but she had fun going down the slides, climbing up the banks and into the treehouse. We had a lovely picnic followed by a delicious ice cream from the new ice cream parlour.




The beautiful lake where Matilda managed to throw her hat in, luckily we came across a charming Gardener who persevered for ages and finally fished it out from the bottom! And there it is floating amongst the swans, we were lucky she didn't get sunstroke.




The peacocks provoked screams from the two girls who then proceeded to chase the poor things.


I just love these secret hideaways in Kew we had a rest on that little bench just watching the birds and the occasional plane on its way to Heathrow.




Sadly not too many water lillies to be had in the photos below.

It's easy to see why Kew was made an official World Heritage Site in 2003, it's also an internationally recognised Botanical research centre that employs over 700 people looking after the world's biggest collection of living plants (over 40,000). There are four Grade 1 listed buildings and 36 Grade II listed structures within it's grounds which is really quite impressive. The library holds over 750,000 volumes of work and over 175,000  Botanical prints/drawings. It hasn't been in existence for over 250 years for nothing! Sadly I still didn't get to do the Treetop walk this time as the girls are a little too young for it, maybe next year. There is plenty for families to do there, and for everyone else there is tranquility, beguiling paths leading to secluded spots where you can while away an afternoon with a good book, concerts in the evening and fabulous eateries such as the enchanting Orangery.



The girls taking a well earned rest after walking what seemed like the whole of the 326 acres yet we still didn't see even the half of it. Guess that'll be my excuse for another trip.





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