Sunday, May 24

The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew Gardens and Kew Palace

Today was a little more leisurely. We got up around 8:30. After a relaxing breakfast in the hotel we headed out to catch the train to Kew Gardens. Kew is a bit west of London and on the south bank of the Thames River. We arrived at the Victoria Gate just before the opening at 9:30.

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After purchasing our tickets we headed toward Kew Palace.

Kew Palace was the residence of King George III during the American Revolution.

I was drawn to visit the gardens due to a reading story we had several years before I retired, titled The Mysterious Girl in the Garden by Judith St. George and Margot Tomes. In the story, a 10-year old girl is left to entertain herself in the gardens as her mother does research work. While reading on a bench in the rhododendrons she meets a young girl and her dog. The girl is oddly dressed and it is revealed that the little girl is Princess Charlotte Augusta, future queen of England (ca 1805). Young Terry helps Charlotte with a task.

Below are the pictures I took at Kew Palace:

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The rest are pictures taken throught the 300 acre gardens.

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We made an early afternoon of it and took the train back to West Kensington and hiked to the hotel. Today we walked over 4 miles, so our feet were glad for us to call it an early day.


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On to Monday and the WWII War Rooms, The British Museum and the Sherlock Holmes Museum