The photos from our trip to Kew Gardens this Saturday somehow deleted themselves, which is annoying because I had some classics of Ian wearing a child's cowboy hat, and some stunning pictures of the sun setting over the river. Never mind, these links should give you an idea of what we saw at Kew:

The indecent-looking coco de mer.

The fabulous Marianne North Gallery. Miss North, a Victorian spinster, travelled the world between 1871 and 1884, living in jungle huts, painting exotic flora. The gallery is lined, floor to ceiling, with her vivid paintings - 832 of them - and is a a riot of colour and a tribute to a great eccentric. [As were my pics of Ian in the hat!]