Not exactly one of my usual threads this one is ; it is totally un-urban. However, I think that from time to time it is good to take a break from urbanity and plunge into more tranquil surroundings. Stick around and leave a comment.

So, I present The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Botanic_Gardens,_Kew

1. The Palm House. Built 1844-48 by Richard Turner to Decimus Burton's designs, The Palm House was created specifically for the exotic palms being collected and introduced to Europe in early Victorian times.

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3. One of the residents of The Palm House, a Cycad or Encephalartos Altensteinii. This is one of the oldest pot plants in the world. It was collected in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa in the early 1770s by Francis Masson, it endured a years long ship journey arriving in England in 1775, all whilst The French Revolution was raging.

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4. It is very, very hot in The Palm House. However it made me want to visit the real thing (Rainforest).

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9. Thats a palm.

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14. The Princess of Wales Conservatory. Opened by Diana, Princess of Wales on 28 July 1987, this most complex of Kew's public glasshouses commemorates Princess Augusta who married Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1736 and who founded the Gardens. Ten different environments cover the whole range of conditions in the tropics, ranging from scorching arid desert to moist tropical rainforest; all computer-controlled under one roof.

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26. One of The Princess of Wales Conservatory residents hanging out.

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27. The Alpine House. It was begun in 1976, completed in 1978 and officially opened to the public in 1981. Its then revolutionary high-tech construction and systems were designed to control temperature, moisture and 'photoperiod' light levels and air flow to replicate alpine habitats accurately. There is even a refrigerated bench in the centre to aid the cultivation of plants from arctic and equatorial mountain conditions.

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31. Kew Palace. It is the earliest surviving building in the Gardens. It was built around 1631 by Samuel Fortrey, a merchant of Dutch origin, and is noted for its distinctive decorative carved brickwork and rounded gables. It was used intermittently as a royal residence between 1728 and 1898. Initially, while her husband George II was extending Richmond Gardens, Queen Caroline leased several parcels of land and buildings in the hamlet of Kew which included Kew Palace.

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36. The Treetop Walkway.

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37. The Temperate House. Once the largest plant house in the world and now the world's largest surviving Victorian glass structure, the Temperate House is another of Decimus Burton's designs. At 4,880 square metres, it is the largest public glasshouse at Kew, twice the size of the Palm House.

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45. Fruit Im addicted to.

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47. The Pagoda. It was completed in 1762. The ten-storey octagonal structure is 163 ft (nearly 50 m) high and was, at that time, the tallest reconstruction of a Chinese building in Europe.

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49. Chokushi-Mon or The Japanese Gateway is is a four-fifths size replica of the Karamon of Nishi Hongan-ji in Kyoto, the ancient imperial capital of Japan.

The replica was originally built for the Japan-British Exhibition, held in London in 1910, a year after which it was dismantled and rebuilt in Kew Gardens. The mound on which it stands was once the site of Sir William Chambers' Mosque.

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Wonderful wonderful Work EG!!You are a TRUE ARTIST!!

Palm House is gorgeous. Did you wonder around the top walkway? I love it up there. Kew Gardens are beautiful. Great photos. :okay:

Amazing photos, El Greco!

Very beautiful!

I havn't been to Kew gardens for years, and it's clear that I have to get back. It is one of the most amazing botanical gardens in the world, if not the most amazing. Wasn't it also one of the first? When I first heard of that pagoda, I thought, well, year, loads of pagoda's around the world outside of Asia these days, but then I realized both how high it was and how old. 1762! That was build before Australia was even settled! Maybe I will get a chance to visit it this summer. I really want to do the treetop walk, it looks amazing!

Amazing, beautiful photos El Greco :okay:

Palm House is gorgeous. Did you wonder around the top walkway? I love it up there. Kew Gardens are beautiful. Great photos. :okay:

Yeah I did, some of the shots were taken from the walkways inside The Palm and Temperate Houses. You can get some fantastic shots from up there.

I havn't been to Kew gardens for years, and it's clear that I have to get back. It is one of the most amazing botanical gardens in the world, if not the most amazing. Wasn't it also one of the first? When I first heard of that pagoda, I thought, well, year, loads of pagoda's around the world outside of Asia these days, but then I realized both how high it was and how old. 1762! That was build before Australia was even settled! Maybe I will get a chance to visit it this summer. I really want to do the treetop walk, it looks amazing!

Yes, I think it was the first or at least one of the first. As for the Treetop walkway, be careful It wobbles! Slightly, of course.

Thanks all, youre the best. :hug:

Amazing, beautiful photos El Greco

Thanks :)