Kew to Mayfair, Hyde Park

Sadly our sojourn at Kew has come to an end.  We caught the train from Kew Gardens to Victoria Station.  Our next night’s accommodation is at the Grosvenor Hotel.  As we were unable to access our room so early in the day, we left our luggage with the Concierge at the Grosvenor, which is right beside Victoria Station.   We set off to explore Mayfair and Hyde Park.

We started in Buckingham Palace Road, where the Grosvenor is situated, and headed toward Mayfair, not over-considering our route, and the time of day.  We had chosen the option of walking rather than taking the tube after experiencing the crowds on the train earlier.  Busloads of people and hordes of a United Nations of pedestrians were converging on the same route.  Of course it was the time of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.  We have observed this phenomenon a couple of times previously and really had no interest in repeating the experience.  However, we were stuck in the crush. A local was heard to say “They should ban this on a Saturday’s”. We did hear the band playing but observed very little of the performance.  The members of the police force both mounted and on foot, were losing the battle with the crowd.

Berkeley Square

Finally breaking free of the crush, we strolled through Green Park and up into Berkeley Street and Berkeley Square.  This proved a shady oasis of huge London Plane trees.  We headed north-east to George Street and Hanover Square.  Our focus here was on the impressive church, St. George’s, Hanover Square, where several generations of my Coates ancestors were hatched, matched and dispatched.  St. George’s was the main church central to where the London and Westminster aristocracy and gentry were known worship.

St. George's Church

The Running Horse Hotel

My Coates family lived and worked in Davies Mews, Grosvenor Square and I was keen to see this small lane where can be found ‘the oldest pub in Mayfair’, The Running Horse.  My ancestor Christopher Coates , gentleman, with a Joseph Hinchcliffe,  took out the lease of the land including the tavern, in Davies Mews in 1738.  Unfortunately, Davies Mews and Davies Street were almost completely blocked off by major roadworks.  The pub, The Running Horse, was open but was very quiet.  They must be losing a lot of business while this work is going on. We had lunch here and received very attentive service because we were the only ones in the pub.  It was a heartening experience. 

A short walk from here was Grosvenor Square which was interesting in the fact that the American Embassy is found here, and there are several statues dedicated to the US.  This was another ‘square’, full of huge plane trees.

Roosevelt Statue in Grosvenor Square

We proceeded to Oxford Street from here where we could see and hear a loud, noisy procession taking place.  It was some sort of protest march , with a rainbow of balloons and protest banners demanding the freedom of Bradley , the US soldier in the Wikileaks case, and freedom to marry.

Marble Arch

The Serpentine, Hyde Park

At Marble Arch, we crossed into Hyde Park.  The day was beautiful and many people were taking advantage of the weather, the sunshine and the space. A large chunk of the centre of the Park was boarded off, getting ready for a musical festival which was to start soon.  This made it necessary to divert around the hoardings, but we finally came to the Serpentine where many people were enjoying themselves on and beside the water.   Doug was taken by the t-shirt of a little boy called Alex. It had written across the front “My Dad’s a genius”.  He wants to get one for our Alex.

Wellington Arch

We visited the Wellington Arch on our way back to our hotel.  It had an exhibition inside on the history of heritage conservation in the UK, which was very interesting, and we were able to climb up to the top of the Arch.

Photo from top of Wellington Arch towards Queen Elizabeth Gates and  Hyde  Pa

London Tower Hamlets to Temple Bar

After a yummy full English breakfast, we set out for Kew Garden Station and caught the train into Tower Station.  Our intention was to explore this main City area, with our first stop Leadenhall Markets.   Leadenhall used to be the poulterers market and our Vaughan family were poulterers at Leadenhall Market in the early 1800s.  The Market buildings were rebuilt in 1881, and today are still as they were then.  The tenants are a bit more posh though.  Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies was filmed here as it was perfect for the old style buildings.

Leadenhall Markets

We passed several churches on our perambulations around this area, and at St. Botolph without Aldgate, we met two ‘Church Watchers.’ They belong to an organisation of mostly retired workers who enable the old churches to be open to the public.  They usually have a bit of knowledge about the church they are ‘watching’ and can assist with questions.  We looked in St. Katherine Cree, and at St Stephen’s, we peeped in on an organ recital.  We stopped by Bow Church but their bells weren’t ringing.

Royal Exchange

St. Paul's

 

Looking down Fleet Street

We noticed several archaeological digs going on in the area, one an early roman site.  We had to walk past the ‘Old Lay of Threadneedle Street’, and the Royal Exchange, outside of which is a huge statue of Wellington on a horse.  We wended our way past St. Paul’s Cathedral but did not look in this time, and walked down to Temple Bar area.  The bodies were giving out so we headed for Temple Station on the Embankment (there are are several small well-looked after gardens in this area), and caught our train back to Kew.

Looking upstream along Thames from near Temple Station

Kew Archives

From Kew Station we walked to the National Archives for a look see.  There wasn’t time to do any research and I hadn’t planned to do any, but it was interesting to see the grounds and the building.  There is a small museum attached to the Archives which was interesting to see, and a café and a bookshop.  Oh dear!  The bookshop was filled with books on genealogy, family history, local history etc…  I was very tempted.  Only the thought of having to carry any heavy tomes restricted my actions.  However, I did take note of many titles for future reference and purchase.

National Archives, Kew

We walked along the tow path beside the Thames to get back to our hotel, a very pleasant walk.  We dined in the hotel – a most delicious beef pie with mash and beautifully cooked vegetables each.  We have been very comfortable in this hotel with its friendly staff and excellent service.  We are also quite taken with the Kew area.

Kew and Kew Gardens

We entered Kew Gardens via the ‘Elizabeth Gate’, appropriate I thought.  We had a 20% off voucher but it still cost us £23 entrance.  No wonder locals become Friends of Kew.  It is a lovely place to spend time and many locals stroll through.  Kew Gardens 700 acres of gardens across two sites and we walked many of those acres.  We started with a plan but soon became distracted by lots of little secret pockets and things to see.  Near the entrance was a wildflower meadow with native orchids throughout.  I found a specimen of our own ‘Woolemi Pine’, carefully encaged from predation.  However, this was the first one they had captured, and they now have colonies spread throughout the gardens, and even sell them in the garden shop. Their captive breeding programme has worked and they are flourishing here.

We spent time visiting Kew Palace, gardens and kitchens.  This is where George III and his family lived through his illnesses.  There was a parterre garden behind the house and the Queen’s Garden was lovely.  It backs onto the Thames.

Back of Kew Palace with Parterre Garden in foreground

Front of Kew Palace

I think you need several days to see Kew properly.  We toured through the Palm House, one of many very humid glasshouses, and spotted many familiar tropical plants.  An extensive rose garden is found to one side of the Palm House and the perfume emanating for these was glorious.  There is a long table on the terrace with illustrated plates and pots filled with herbs growing out of them.  A little whimsy made everyone smile. The Temperate House is being refurbished at the cost of many millions.  All the plants are being lifted, trimmed and regenerated with many already in pots.  The actual glasshouse really needs refurbishment and repair.  A tall Pagoda stands out in the landscape, but up close it could do with a coat of paint.

Tree top walk

We lunched at the Pavilion restaurant sitting under an arbour of grape vines, with a pretty spotted chicken strutting around, and a peacock looking for attention displaying himself.

As a break from the gardens, we checked out the Marianne North Gallery.  Marianne North was an intrepid, 19^th century painter who visited 14 countries in 11 years, painting mostly botanical works but also birds, animals and landscapes.  The gallery consists of two large rooms, filled ceiling to floor and wall to wall with paintings by Marianne North.  It is a bit confronting but awe inspiring.  Beside this gallery was the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.  The main exhibition of a botanical artist called Rory McEuan, featured several exquisite paintings of tulips which were commissioned for a book called Tulipomania.

Our favourite part of the gardens was the Alpine Garden.  The little plants were all in flower and were so delicate and pretty. 

Inside Alpine Garden

Double poppies

Near to this area was the Princess of Wales Conservatory, a huge collection of a glasshouse rooms filled with tropical plants.  It was a very impressive modern structure.

Princess of Wales Conservatory

After exiting the gardens through the Elizabeth Gate, we wandered down to the Thames and walked along the tow path then back to our hotel.  St Anne’s Church at Kew is opposite the hotel.  It was patronised by the royal family when at Kew and is notable as being the resting place of Thomas Gainsborough.  We located his very unprepossessing grave along the side of the church.  Not one that people would make a pilgrimage to see.

After a long day and night, I was asleep by 6 p.m. and slept 7 hours straight, which meant that I was awake at 1 a.m.!  I read for a while and managed to get back to sleep for an hour or so before dawn.

Brisbane to London

Our domestic flight to Sydney on the Qantas 737-800 “Woolongong” was a little bumpy.  I nearly ended up with a hot coffee poured over me as we hit turbulence as the coffee was being served.  We didn’t have a lot of time in the Qantas lounge before our international flight, after transfer from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, but we were able to have a gelato each in the lounge.

We were seated on the front row of the upper level of the A380 on the Flight QF1 to Dubai and London.  I was able to catch up on several movies.  I especially loved an Australian movie called “Goddess”.  I managed to get 4-5 hours sleep on this leg and Doug managed six and a half.  He was able to plug in his CPAP machine and got as good sleep.  A man behind me had a serious snoring problem and we both struggled to get to sleep before resorting to ear plugs.  I tried headphones but it’s hard to sleep with headphones.  I felt like waking him up with a lecture on sleep apnoea.

Dubai airport was busy and we circled for 25 mins so our time there was curtailed.  We both managed to have a shower in the lounge although there was a queue for that.   The terminal had an interesting curved shape.  We didn’t see much of it as it was in the middle of the night, and limited time.

Surprise surprise, we found ourselves circling Heathrow too before a smooth landing, after a 6 ½ flying time.  Brisbane does not have exclusive rights to flight delays.

We arrived at our Kew Hotel, the Coach and Horses at about 8.30 a.m. and they very kindly made up and allowed us into our room early.  It is a lovely friendly place and is across the road from the entrance to Kew Gardens.