Kew in Autumn

My first visit to Kew in autumn, so what to show? Autumnal colours I suppose.

Not a lot in the way of flowers in October of course, so it allows one to concentrate on some semi-abstract shots rather than flower portraits, like these....

That's not to say there were no flowers to see. There are always the water-lilies

And the orchids

 Not enough for you? Well there is always the wildlife

Or the statuary

 

Or the architecture (even ignoring Kew Palace)

Temple of Ballonia



Marianne North Gallery (Exterior)



Marianne North Gallery (Interior)

The Temperate House



The Ruined Arch, built as a ruin, although now a bit more dilapidated than when new




Queen Charlotte's Cottage, built as a royal picnic house (well if you are royalty you don't want your picnic spoilt by British Summer weather, so the answer is obvious, build a cottage)




And here is where you have your picnic





Temperate House from the air (well the treetop walk)




The No1 Museum (an exhibition space)



Temple of Arethusa



Decimus Burton's famous Palm House. There may now be bigger greenhouses, but you would be hard pressed to find a more attractive one)



Burton's museum through a grubby glass pane on the walkway at the top of the Palm House




The Princess of Wales Conservatory, a more modern, functional but far less attractive glass house

 

The Davies Alpine House, a very striking building

The Nash conservatory



Temple of Aeolus



The Pagoda

Then if you don't mind  a few steps, you can take the tree-top walk. I must admit not as exciting as doing this in a rain-forest, but better constructed than the tropical versions I have been up.

On top (or underneath) all that lot, there is currently an exhibition  of the works of David Nash. Not sure I would really classify him as a sculptor, and my old woodwork teacher wouldn't have been much impressed with his output. Some pieces are carved (a bit) - well more like tidied-up and arranged, some are "charred", but mostly I would describe it as wood that has been interfered with to some degree. In some cases I feel the boundary line between fine art and barbecue fuel is hard to distinguish, other than maybe on grounds of size. See what you think.

This is supposed to represent a lightning strike and was originally made out of an ash tree struck by lightning (neat, huh?). But that rotted away so its been recreated in steel



One of my favourites, both in terms of the sculpture and the setting



This apparently "complements the architecture and scale" of the 19th century Nash Conservatory (no relation) in which it is exhibited. To the untutored mind, I think that just means its big and goes in a big empty place.

And to finish with a tree. A sweet chestnut actually. But its claim to fame is that it is thought to be the oldest tree in the gardens.

 A question. How many trees are there in Britain? (Its ok, I will take an approximate number)

Answer, apparently 89 million. Quite comforting that they outnumber us.

Well, a nice way to spend an autumn day, but that was only the daylight part. Read on for the evening.