Kew's 120 hectares of gardens have lakes, lilyponds, Victorian greenhouses, temples, follies, art galleries, palaces, cottages, exotic birds, and about 40,000 trees. What could be more idyllic?
Unfortunately ever since Ghillean Prance left as director in 1999, and particularly since Kew gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2003, it's been steadily turned into a theme park. It's no longer enough for visitors to enjoy strolling around the gardens and woods. There have to be more and more attractions, entertainments and activities. It's becoming increasingly difficult to get away from the visually polluting modernisation to enjoy the tranquillity of nature.
This is how Kew's official site describes its purpose:
Throughout its history, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has made important contributions to increasing the understanding of the plant kingdom with many benefits for mankind.
Today it is still first and foremost a scientific institution. With its collections of living and preserved plants, of plant products and botanical information, it forms an encyclopaedia of knowledge about the plant kingdom.
The science and research departments at Kew do a fantastic job behind the scenes. What worries me is the visitor experience, which is now overwhelmingly commercial. Admission is £13.50 for the 1.35 million visitors per year. Then there's the revenue from the 'Kew Explorer' train (£4 a trip), the £5 entrance to Kew Palace, the cafes and gift shops. Not to mention donations, the 'summer swing' concert tickets, and corporate hospitality services.
With an annual income of over £40 million, it's a little hard to understand why the place is looking so dilapidated:
Yet they spend money on pointless and intrusive structures like these:
