Christmas at Kew - The Paper Mountains

London Calling Christmas at Kew

January 4, 2017 georgiasmith 0Comment

When you live in London it can be hard to find spots of natural beauty to escape to, after the bustle of the city. But they are there, you just need to look for them. One of these spots is Kew Gardens, in West London. I first went there on an organised school trip at 16, dragging my feet and spending most of the time on a park bench with my friends. As I aged, I felt a growing appreciation for the natural world and had a sense of contentment when surrounded by it. About 4 years later, after moving to London for University, I went back. It’s a beautiful place to walk around, whether you’re exploring the Rose or Rock Garden in the summer or the multiple conservatories scattered across the broad park. At certain times of the year they host different events and in the last month I went to their, ‘Christmas at Kew 2016’ event.

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Our time slot for the walk through Kew wasn’t until 8pm, so when we arrived it was very dark but already we could see the blur of lights through the front wrought iron gates of the park. The event was essentially an organised walk through the gardens, at your own pace, and the organisation had set up attractions along the pathway. Some of the attractions were beautiful, having been to the gardens before and thinking they were magnificent in their natural state, the lights seemed only to amplify their appeal. In particular ‘The Bee Hive’, this is one Kew’s newest attractions, is a massive metal structure replicating a bee hive and when you stand underneath it, you experience the natural hum of the working bees. The light effect was a great omniscient glow, that seemed to radiate from the hive and it was one of my favourites of the night and apparently it was for most people. I have to admit, at first the crowds disheartened me as we dodged past groups and felt pressured to move on quickly when looking at the sights. It was clearly a popular event, that was packed out to the brim but once we started getting into the rhythm of the walk, this part seemed less oppressive.

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The walk was 2km long and we passed lots of interesting things. There was a giant tower with a bright floral pattern reflected on it, tunnels of changing colours that felt like you were entering an alternate dimension and a festive light show reflected on Kew’s famous botanical building. Aside from the obvious attractions, they had food galore. Although it was slightly expensive, as it always is at events in London. During the middle of the walk we came across a hovering neon sign that said ‘Marshmallow’. A marshmallow stand. I’ve never heard of such a thing? But it was delicious. You essentially wait in a queue to pick whatever flavour of marshmallow you want, served on a stick and in a perfectly formed square. They had really interesting flavours, I chose the strawberry and basil, and then you roast it on a communal fire pit. As you can tell from my enthusiastic description, this was a highlight of my night. The end of our walk was slightly rushed, there was a fire display that we had to run past because they had begun closing down the gardens, which answered our question of ‘why is this part of the walk so quiet?’ It was a great night which was only slightly dulled by the crowds, I would definitely purchase tickets again but at an earlier time slot so I’m not running past the last half of the attractions. Also we were lucky to get the tickets, they sell out fast, so make sure your prepared and buy the tickets early.