I went to the AGM of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens last week.

It was very interesting and we had glorious weather for trips to Wisley, the Saville Garden and Kew – a real treat for us to see.

At Kew we saw the recently built alpine house which was erected to take the place of the old one as it was not considered suitable for showing off the alpines that are grown so beautifully by the Kew staff.

The new house is in the middle of the rock garden, which is not quite finished yet but has been cleaned up and is very nearly ready to receive plants.

The new house is of the very latest design and has air conditioning to keep the plants airy, as they would be in their natural habitat.

The setting is of rocks and scree, so the plants look as they would in the wild. However, they are put there each week, as they come into flower so they are perfect for members of the public to look at.

They are actually grown in pots, so they can be slotted into the new house as they come to perfection.

Kew is a large area of mainly trees, so there was a lot of walking to do. We went to see the newly restored Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, which was made for Queen Charlotte to take a picnic to.

Upstairs there is a big room, where the picnic would be eaten on a day that was not perfect weather. It is very picturesque and quite a long way from the used parts of the garden.

We also looked at the Queens garden, which is very formal, with hedges of box. This was a complete contrast to the cottage of Queen Charlotte, outside the palace, which is like a dolls house of very formal architecture.

The trees of the garden all looked beautiful and were just coming into leaf, so that they seemed to be perfect.

We visited the environment house, which illustrated the different ages of the earth, from the moonscape like beginnings, through the age of dinosaurs right up to the age of man.

We were very impressed by this, and agreed that we should have one nearer home to take our children to see.

We walked across the lake to the cafe where we had a meal before driving home.

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