Kew Green

Grey Granite was based in Kew for her recent London trip. Throughout her visit it was bitterly cold, with regular flurries of sleet and snow. In icicle outside her friend's house on the Green persisted for several days. This was a complete contrast to her March visit in 1911 when the daffodils were almost over and there were brimstone butterflies in the grounds of the National Archive.

St Anne's Church, Kew Green from the north showing the Duke of Cambridge's Mausoleum. The mausoleum,in the form of a semi domed apse,  was built in 1851 but moved to its present position following extensions to the chancel in 1884.

Grey Granite went to St Anne's specifically to see if the vivid sweet violets she remembered from  her previous March visit as carpeting the graveyard were in flower.

Interior of St Anne's. Grey Granite found  a side door open so wandered inside to look  for Joseph Hooker's memorial (in front of the window on the left) and to escape from the cold. 

Memorial to Joseph Dalton Hooker, arguably the greatest of the Victorian botanists, friend of Charles Darwin,  succeeded his father William as Director of Kew Gardens from 1865-1885.

In the graveyard lesser periwinkle, here a variegated form, wandered amiably among the tombstones along with sweet violets. Crocus and a few brave daffodils showed signs of suffering from  the cold weather, dog's mercury was just opening in the shelter of the building.

Tapestry pew cushions tell the story of St Anne's Church and reflect its botanical and royal associations.
More embroideries on a botanical theme are planned to mark the tercentenary of St Anne's in 2014.

The Pond Kew Green.

The pond was originally fed by a creek leading from the Thames and in the Middle Ages was used as a fish pond before becoming a dock for the royal barge. Later, in the 19th century, the ramp in the foreground enabled carters to water their horses, wash their carts and to wet there wooden wheels when the iron rims worked loose

The Secret Garden in Kew Gardens making a brave attempt at Spring.