B.E.A.utiful

Today we made it our business to fully enjoy all of this good English sunshine we are having and so we threw ourselves into the quiet, delicate beauty that is Kew Gardens. I absolutely love being at Kew, every time I go there is something new to see. I always come home feeling a little bit sad, as if I’ve left behind a great friend that I seldom see, but at the same time I am comforted in having the opportunity to meet again. It is my happy place, I could easily waste my whole life there I think and still not count a day as wasted.

Not long after arriving we set up camp (a blanket) and enjoyed a long and lazy lunch. Little H spent most of this time under a nearby tree, talking to the bugs, whilst Little A spent most of his showing off his standing-whilst-carrying-something skills and chasing after a ball (a bit like having a dog I realise as I write…hmmm). He took two steps in a row for the first time before tripping over the picnic blanket and I realised that next time we visit I would have two little boys running around…wow! I mainly enjoyed the opportunity to sit and savour a simple lunch and a good coffee with my toes dug into the grass under the shade of a big ol’ beautiful tree. Its’ such a simple pleasure but one I rarely indulge in as life just moves too fast on the outside of those garden walls. I must make more effort to slow it down.

We visited the Palm House (The Spaceship according to Little H) and saw enormous trees, huge Hibiscus blooms and flowers that looked like dinosaurs!

I thought that such exotic surroundings would make a good backdrop to some nice photos of the boys and for this reason I packed my real camera. However, Little H seems to have developed a ‘Chandler’ camera face whereby he says ‘cheese’ whilst squinting one eye and the corresponding side of his mouth, with his head tilted slightly to one side. How do I correct this?? I didn’t get one good photo! see...

We witnessed some good wildlife; a squirrel emptying a bin and gathering food that was good to eat (sorry no photo of this one), and a swan nesting in a flower pot!!

A huge surprise was finding this:

I told you this was my happy place! And now me thinks you might like it as yours too? It took quite a lot of strength to NOT HUG THE TREE! Little H on the other hand didn’t hold back, he spent ages trying to comfy himself up against this one. Clearly it looked like it would make a good place to relax, despite how awkward he made it look.

My favourite of the trees was this one. I loved how it was pieced together from different crochet shapes that allowed the tree to show through rather than it being completely cloaked in a tree-shaped jumper.

These upper branches were particularly beautiful, so delicate considering the fact that they were wrapped around a tree. It sounds goofy but you could see it was lovingly made and dressed and it made it kind of special. I just wish there had been more information on who had made it so that you could gather a bit of it’s story, but I guess that’s the nature of yarn bombing.

We finished our day with some delicious ice cream (mine was cherry) with strawberries and blueberries; YUM! We headed back to the car with heavy legs, achy feet but happy hearts and smiley eyes; it was a goooood day.

As I type I feel that slightly drunken, fuzzy feeling you get when you’ve given yourself entirely to the enjoyment of a place; the sun, the air, the barefoot walks in squishy grass, the visual overload of a rainbow of flowers, the staggering variety of textures to be found in nature. It’s completely exhausting. It’s completely exhilarating. As I said, it’s my happy place.

Well, thanks for stopping by, I hope you’ve been doing equally great things in the sunshine. If you haven’t, remember to take just 30 minutes out to enjoy just one simple pleasure outdoors, it’ll be worth it.

See you soon!

xx

P.S. Erm...here's some more of the good stuff coz I thought you might just like it. Enjoy.