One of my very last trips before coronavirus lockdown was a visit at Kew Gardens, on the 5th of March. There’s a similar place near my home town, and expecting tropical, indoor gardens, I decided to visit Kew Gardens on a gloomy, winter day. Something I was not aware of is that Kew Gardens, as opposed to the similar place in Gliwice, consist of multiple buildings and outdoor spaces. Ouch. Yep, I got completely soaked. Totally worth it! However, I do need to repeat this trip in summer, perhaps after lockdown.

It was probably the rainiest day I experienced in London since moving there in September. The stereotype of typical English weather certainly doesn’t apply to London. Before moving from Poland to the UK, I checked the average annual weather statistics in both places and was surprised to discover that my south-Polish home town is wetter and colder than London, typically known for rain and fog. It’s definitely a positive surprise which seems to be true so far. I’m not complaining!

However, the day when I decided to have a mood-lifting trip to Kew Gardens, the annual precipitation decided to accumulate in one 12-hour period – or at least it felt like that. It was still a fun trip, but I know I’ll need to repeat it in summer, when the outdoor gardens are in full glory.

The indoor spaces, however, were just perfect for a gloomy day. There’s nothing I love more than the feeling of authentic tropics when it’s cold and wet outside. It was very similar to the Palm House in Gliwice, but much, much bigger.

There were some really interesting plants, including these funky upside-down trees. They must have skipped the class about how to tree!

The picture doesn’t fully reflect the scale of the rain that day. I had an umbrella but it didn’t help much in the extreme wind. It had been a long time since I had last got that soaked. And the walks between different buildings are quite long, especially when you don’t have a map and don’t where you’re going! I love the pink trees, by the way. There’s a lot of them in London parks and they certainly made spring in this city very pretty.

I believe there are also seasonal exhibitions in Kew Gardens. The one I got to see was an orchid garden – thousands of orchids arranged in sophisticated pieces of floral art. Really impressive!

Blue orchid!

You can rent a venue at Kew Gardens for various events and if I have a spare £20,000 on my wedding day, I know what I’ll spend it on. I just need to win a lottery or something, ha!

I  was a little bit disappointed with the lack of animals. Naturally, they are Kew Gardens, not a zoo, but I was hoping to see some tropical lizards or fish tanks. Lesson learnt, if you’re looking to see animals – go to a zoo. They did have these strange little frogs (?) though, so cute!

I can’t wait to be able to explore more places. This is my first spring-summer warm season in the UK and I had many plans for smaller and bigger trips in good weather. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make at least some of them this year.

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