Further visions of Eden

To help understand today's quest, I refer you to this blip.

In a nutshell, I bought a job lot of jigsaws in January, which included one of floral paintings by the Victorian artist Marianne North. I found out that she had travelled extensively over several continents, and later bequeathed 823 of her paintings to Kew Gardens, to be housed in a gallery that she had had built at her expense.

After finishing the jigsaw in March, I bought her diaries online, and vowed to visit the Gallery at the botanical gardens at Kew (South West London) at the earliest opportunity. Today was that day.

Fortunately, the gallery was situated relatively near the entrance gate, as Kew gardens are quite large. On going in, I came up against a sign saying No Photography, but by turning off the flash, I sneaked in a couple of shots. Not that they were any good, but I dared and that's the thing. I have a lot of the paintings reproduced in her illustrated diaries. The gallery itself is quite overwhelming, the way the 823 paintings are displayed cheek by jowl in just two rooms, but I was very glad to have seen it and will certainly go back any time I am at Kew. There is a new interpretation section with a short film and sone displays that I also found helpful.

As well as the Marianne North gallery, there's a new gallery next door, but I decided I'd prefer to wander among the trees and lakes, and in and out of the glasshouses. The weather was cold again, and the skies dull, but I found a lovely Araucaria / monkey puzzle tree, that I introduced to some passing children who were fascinated by it. The blip is a macro of part of this tree. CleanSteve and I used to enjoy doing the Guardian crosswords set by one Araucaria, a retired churchman called John Graham. I believe he is now terminally ill. See more here.

After a few hours of wandering, I wandered into the shop, nay shopping plaza, and did not buy anything! Not that I wasn't tempted. By the way, I knew I could use my Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum card to get into Kew free, but was shocked to discover that it would have cost me £16 without it!

I got the overground train back all the way to the nearest tube stop, which saved shedloads of time, and am settling down now with a large glass of wine and a pizza.
Tomorrow I am heading back to Stroud, to teach aromatherapy to recovering addicts, but this has been a lovely holiday from reality, and one day I shall return...