London: Kingston; Saturday, 11 December, 2021

I had a relatively early start and after a quick breakfast headed out of the hotel and over to the nearby bus stop to pick up the 65 north out of Kingston towards Richmond and onto my first stop of the day at Kew Gardens.

I deliberately took the bus onto the furthest gate, closest to the river and Kew Bridge, so that I could walk back through the gardens and exit back closer to Richmond. The gardens cover a massive space – some 330 acres – so exploring the whole of the gardens would take a long time. Instead I focused on covering the main sites.

These included the Princess of Wales Conservatory glasshouse and the iconic palm house. Both turned out not to be the best places to go when you’re dressed for a chilly winters day, but inside it’s a tropical rainforest – the heavy jacket and warm trousers turning out to be not appropriate for the conditions.

I also visited the Grass Gardens, Bonsai House, Tree-Top Walkway and Temperate house before ending my trip round the gardens at the Great Pagoda, located almost back in Richmond.

I left the gardens via the Lion gate and picked up the bus a couple of stops back into Richmond before hopping off the 65 and leaping onto the 371 bus that was following behind. Whilst both the 65 and the 371 headed to where I was going next the 65 would leave me with a 20 minute walk, whilst the 371 had just an 8 minute walk – so it made sense to take save on the walking to change buses.

I hopped off the 371 in Ham and walked down to the riverside and the 17th century Ham House, now part of the National Trust.

My first stop at the house was actually the café as I hadn’t had a chance to grab a lunch so I headed in there for a quick bit to eat before exploring the formal gardens and then heading back into the house to look around that.

Ham House completed I had a choice – I could walk the 2.5 miles or so back along the riverside to Kingston, or I could wander back and pick up the bus. The walk would take about an hour, the bus – by the time it went round the houses and got stuck in the Saturday afternoon traffic probably not that much less time. The weather decided to help make my mind up as it stepped up from light drizzle to rain as I walked out into the parkland around the house so I headed back to the bus stop and caught the bus back into Kingston.

I had another short wander through the centre of town, with another quick stop in the market for German sustenance, before heading back to the hotel.