Visiting Kew Gardens, London's botanical Oasis

If you’re looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of London The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, is the perfect place to visit.

London's world famous botanical gardens are a visit everyone should do in the UK. A fantastic UNESCO World Heritage site that is perfect for hiring a minibus for a family day out, or for school’s and colleges to organise field trips and hire a coach down to London.

As well as being stunningly beautiful the educational value of the botanical gardens cannot be underestimated and we undertake many school and college trips with our comprehensive London coach hire services, as well as private bookings.

So let's take a look at London's botanical Oasis, Kew Gardens.

The Gardens

The Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, known simply as Kew Gardens, are located in London's borough of Richmond and the garden was originally established for simple leisure. The development of Kew accelerated when Henry VII built the nearby Richmond Palace and moved his court there for the summer months. This Thames side location meant the royal party could sail to and from London, more quickly than by road.

The early commercial gardens were founded in 1759 by Princess Augusta the mother of King George III and the original garden was a nine acre botanical garden within the pleasure grounds at Kew. George III inherited and continued to enrich the gardens.

Today Kew Gardens is renowned across the world as a scientific institution for plant and fungal research and the original 9 acre area has been expanded to cover 300 acres containing more than 50,000 living plants.

With its Victorian glasshouses, arboretum and artwork there is a lot to see with some of the most beautiful plant life and wildlife, and several rare and beautiful flower species and dangerous carnivorous plants housed in a temperature controlled environment.

This amazing collection of flora and fauna at Kew Gardens London is one of the most biodiverse places on planet Earth.

If you’re interested in gardening and horticulture why not hire a coach down to London with your local gardening club or horticultural society and enjoy the pleasure of visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Your London coach hire driver will be outside waiting to speed you home or take your group into London for dinner or a tour of the sights.

What to see

As you would imagine the summer season, from June to August, delivers truly stunning views from a fully bloomed garden and the trees and flowers are a riot of magnificent colour. In spring which generally runs from April to May, the new blooms are lovely and soothing to the eye.

In the Autumn the crowds are much smaller as the gardens are not at their blooming best, however inside the temperature controlled greenhouse displays the plants are tropical so the Autumn chill and onset of winter means little to them.

Summer is a very busy time so get your booking to hire a coach in London, made as soon as possible.

The Temperature Glasshouse

After a major five-year renovation process, this glittering cathedral of flora and fauna reopened in 2018 to showcase the splendour of the world’s temperate zones plant life.

It is home to some of the rarest and extremely unique temperate plants, many of which are under threat and including six rare and almost extinct species on the world's endangered list already. This is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse spread over 4,880 sqm, standing proudly 19 metres high and home to 1,500 species of plants from Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

When you book your minibus or coach hire we can happily arrange an early morning pick up and drop off so your party beats the crowds.

The Japanese Landscape.

These stunning garden areas make up the Japanese Landscape. The Garden of Peace is an area reminiscent of a traditional Japanese tea garden and features stone lanterns and a dripping water basin. Raked gravel and large rocks in the sloped Garden of Activity represent the movement of flowing water. The Garden of Harmony unites the two. All three combine to create a peaceful, manicured oasis.

At the centre of the Japanese Landscape is the Chokushi Mon or Gateway of the Imperial Messenger. It was created for the Japan/British Exhibition of 1910 and is a replica of the Gate of Nishi Hongan ji in Kyoto, Japan. Its finely carved wooden panels feature stylized flowers and animals that depict an ancient legend.

The Treetop Walkway

If you're a lover of trees, then this is definitely for you and you’ll find 14,000 trees in Kew Gardens. The Treetop Walkway provides an opportunity to get closer to those trees and offers fantastic views of the garden and the city beyond. The walkways themselves are constructed of weathered steel that blends into the natural environment and stands almost 60 feet tall. It is 656 feet long and loops through the upper branches of beech, sweet chestnut, horse chestnut, and oak trees.

The 188 steps to the walkway are a manageable climb, since the steps are broken up into several flights and there’s a landing at the end of each flight. There is room on each landing to step out of the path of oncoming climbers to rest or simply take a few moments to admire the view.

Youth club visits, school groups and adventurous youngsters on a birthday outing will love having fun so get your coach hire booked and set off for some fun and fresh air.

The walkway offers a unique, ethereal perspective of nature and everyone will enjoy watching bird and insect behaviour at this height and hearing the breeze rustling the branches. Observing the majesty of trees from this vantage point is almost mystical.

Time to close

A visit to Kew Gardens delivers in so many ways and its easy access from London's road network makes hiring a coach the easiest and most cost effective way to travel.

Take time when you're strolling around and enjoying the wonderful gardens and exhibits and make the most of your visit.

As you're in London you can add a trip around the sights to your itinerary.

With our fleet of multi sized vehicles we make your coach hire simple. And don't worry if your party is a smaller size as with our selection of mini buses for hire we can ensure you have the right bus size for your group.