I grew up on an overdose of England. Keats, Byron, Shelley were my favourite poets, and of course Wordsworth and Tennyson, were on my favourite's list too. They took me to the lovely meadows, lakes, countryside, downs, highlands, the daffodil, cuckoo, nightingale and also to a country churchyard! Enid Blyton, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie belonged to another genre, responsible for my mind wandering over the quaint railway stations from where children went to Boarding school, the boarding schools themselves, Malory Towers, and Katy. Georgette Heyer with her invaluable forays into London, introduced me to Pall Mall, Pimlico, Picaddilly, Haymarket, Shaftesbury Avenue, and what have you!!! Little did I know that London would actually come alive to me-and how???
Chaitali, my daughter came to live in London and my visits to London have become more than an annual event. Watching the fat squirrels running around, the fox running across streets freely, the trees and there foliage, the huge commons, the row upon row of endless houses, was as though I had seen this happening forever. I never felt as though I was seeing anything for the first time, it was all like deja - vu. The little handkerchief size gardens in front of the houses are an amazing sight. The little patch of garden is arranged very nicely with lovely roses of different colours and hues. Everything is so coordinated, as though it is a jig saw puzzle with every piece fitted snug and in place. Some houses do not have gardens, yet the stones are arranged in a manner which is a delight to watch. There are rows of different coloured stones placed artistically. It amazes me to see the amount of labour that goes into this work of art.
It's interesting to go down Shaftesbury Avenue and see the number of theatres there. The plays are really worth watching. The performances are excellent and the sets are out of this world. Having all the theatres conglomerated in a specific place is appropriate. The whole atmosphere in that area is charged with art and acting. The number of performances that go on continuously shows the love for theatre,and drama in this part of the world. Tickets have to be booked in advance and are not easily available.The Mouse Trap is the longest running play in London.
Oxford Street, King's Road, Harrods, Selfridges offer such unique shopping experiences. They are like sight seeing tours and do not appear to be mundane shopping expeditions. The amount of pain that has been taken to get this exquisite feeling across is marvellous.
I never feel out of place in London. I seem to belong here, obviously it is the effect of all those books that I read, imbibed, visualised and visited every time I read any of the authors named by me.
Recently when I visited Kew Gardens near Richmond, I went away to another era of horse drawn carriages, days when there was no electricity, yet there was the interest to develop a garden with different kinds of plants from all over the world. Today, it has the largest collection of living plants in the world. This garden is celebrating 250 years of it's existence this year. It is growing and has a lovely collection of trees from the desert, tropical, temperate, aquatic, and rain forest kind of climate. The different types of green houses maintaining different types of climates is a wonderful sight. The Princess of Wales conservatory is a marvel where one big hall having different segments has total climatic control to display plants and flowers from ten climatic zones, of the world. One full section is devoted to the carnivorous plants. The Venus fly trap, the pitcher shaped flowers , and many other such plants which eat insects were amazing to see.
The magnolia patch, the azalea garden - presently a riot of colours, the rhododendron dell which has about 700 specimen of these flowers are also in full bloom at this time of the year, and rose pergola were indeed a treat. The lilies, the lotus and lovely orchids from the temperate as well as the tropical climes,the ferns, besides the variety of cacti with a lot of them blooming with exquisite flowers, was simply beautiful. The walk down a whole collection and variety of holly, was lovely.
Huge tamarind trees, different types of palm, cocoa, coffee trees, coconut, rubber, papyrus, oak, beech, deodar, baobab- name the tree and you are sure to find it at Kew Garden. There is even a garden dedicated to grass, which has 550 species of grass. The Bamboo garden has 120 specimens, brought from all over the world.
There are a number of heritage trees in the garden. Each one has its plaque giving a short history. It's almost as if the tree is venerated. There are little plaques meant for children, called "The Darwin Trail", which make it very interesting for them to see, read and learn about trees and their importance, to the earth.
There is a walkway, which is about 59 feet above ground level. One can see the treetops from that level. It's a lovely walk, where one walks at the level of the tip of the tallest trees. The view is breath taking. As though to give a grand finale to our experience, there was a peacock near the walk who was bent upon giving his own performance. He spread his tail and preened about, giving everyone an opportunity to take beautiful snapshots of him in his full splendour. What a colourful and perfectly designed specimen of beauty on earth.
A trip to an English garden on a warm summer 's day- is there anything else that a person needs? A walk in nature, and a riot of colours, a collection of plants amazingly brought together, painstakingly preserved-these are the delights of life, to be enjoyed. I thoroughly enjoyed my day at Kew Gardens.
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