Patricia Gentry-Verhoestraete

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: A Place To Find Solace In Nature During Coronavirus Pandemic

As a Blue Badge Tourist Guide, I feel proud and privileged to introduce visitors from around the globe to the greatest and most historic botanic gardens in the world: the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Both a UNESCO World Heritage Site with hundreds of years of history and a key scientific research centre at the forefront of saving our planet, the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew offers endless wonders for all to enjoy.

In this video, initially broadcast via the Guide London social media channels, I share some of the fascinating stories connected to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew which dates back to the early 18th-century.   Just a 30-minute train ride from Central London, the 326-acre site at Kew now has 40 historic buildings and its collection includes over 27,000 taxa of living plants, 8.3 million plant and fungal herbarium specimens, and over 40,000 species in the seed bank.

For a more in-depth virtual tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew followed by a Q&A session, get in touch via my Guide London profile. You can watch or listen from the comfort of your home or as a preparation for your next real-life visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Patricia Gentry-Verhoestraete

My name is Patricia.
I am a professional licensed tour guide in the UK with 20 years experience and holder of the prestigious Blue Badge.
Because of the Corona virus situation,nearly all real-life tours are not happening with the exception of couples or family visits. All of my most popular tours…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like

Notting Hill Carnival 2022

Notting Hill Carnival is the largest street festival in Europe.  It was started in the 1960s as a way for Caribbean communities, part of the Windrush Generation to bond and celebrate their cultural traditions. Now taking place every August Bank Holiday weekend in the streets of London W11, the Notting Hill Carnival is an amazing array of sounds, colourful sights, and social solidarity.

Read more

The View From My Window: The Good News from Victoria Park

I’m standing in the bathroom on the upper floor – you really don’t have to know what I’m doing –looking wistfully through the chartreuse-coloured cascade that is the weeping willow at the bottom of our garden and across the canal to Victoria Park. It is `just spring when the world is puddle-wonderful’ as American poet E.E. Cummings once put it, and we can no longer enter it. Like pints after work and an evening at the theatre, our beloved park is just a memory. It’s encaged by tall iron gates.

Read more