For a city as busy and built up as London is, it is also rich with green spaces and gorgeous parks, with Kew Gardens being one of the very best. The history of Kew Gardens stretches all the way back to 1759, with Londoners and visitors alike enjoying everything this beautiful place has to offer for generations.
Kew Botanical Gardens is a very large place, with lots to see and do and it’s more than worth making the short trip from your room at The Montcalm Brewery to see what all the fuss is about.
Kew Botanical Gardens – What’s the Big Deal?
Well, when you visit Kew Botanical Gardens, it’s not like a simple journey to the local park. Kew covers an enormous area of land and there are various parts to it that you will want to see and explore.
Kew Gardens, for example, is home to the Temperate House. Recently renovated and reopened, this colossal Victorian glasshouse is the largest in the world and a great example of the Victorian fever for building grand structures. Inside the Grade -I listed Temperate House is a huge array of temperate zone plants. Many are incredibly rare, and some are even threatened with extinction. It’s worth the visit to Kew on its own, and with Kew so close to Montcalm’s Central London Hotels, there’s no reason not to make the short journey.
Equally as impressive is the arboretum. With over 14,000 trees making up the area, some even date all the way back to the 18th century when Sir William Hooker – the first director of Kew – planted them.
Aside from these, there’s the bamboo garden, the Davies Alpine House, and the Great Broad Walk Borders, which is a stunning area of Kew featuring more than 30,000 plants, flowers, shrubs and trees. And that’s just an overview! Once you’ve absorbed everything you can, you might be a mite peckish…
The Glasshouse
Very close to Kew Gardens, it’s obvious how The Glasshouse chose its name. Michelin starred, The Glasshouse serves up a plethora of amazing food, with desserts that are out of this world.
The restaurant offers lunch and dinner, so you’ll be okay to pop along any time of the day and tuck into some of the best food the area has to offer. You might even want to indulge in something from the extensive wine list and, happily, you don’t have far to get back to your room at The Montcalm Brewery.
The French corn-fed chicken with onions and bacon is a real treat, and you might not be able to resist the passionfruit Baked Alaska.
Q Verde
A great, family-run Italian restaurant, Q Verde offers up amazing Italian cuisine in a nice, relaxed atmosphere and is perfectly placed to make the short journey back to any of Montcalm’s Central London Hotels.
Q Verde has been running since 2006, and is a firm local favourite, with options for the traditionalists and the more adventurous in your group.
The risotto gamberetti and asparagi (that’s prawns and asparagus risotto to you and me) is simply wonderful, but QVerde also offers great platters of bread, olives, cheese and meats if you’re in the mood for something a little lighter.
