Colour at Kew...

...and A Bit of a Ramble.

Yesterday, Husband and I took a day trip to Kew Gardens. While we were on holiday in Cornwall, we visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan and joined up to their "Friends" scheme which allows not only unlimited entry to Heligan, but Kew and Wakehurst, too. So, I booked the afternoon off work and we went to take advantage of our deal.

We took the train up and walked over the Thames from Kew Bridge station; there are some FAB houseboats on the river there. I'd been to Kew a couple of times while at uni to do location drawing, but that was eight or nine years ago now. (Eek!) I'd never really walked around the grounds, having just headed straight for the glasshouses, and I'd also never noticed Newens just outside Victoria Gate on Kew Road. Wow, that's all I can say. It was a definite Day Off From the Diet.

So we had a lovely wander about, went up the slightly scary Treetop Walkway, and I took a few pictures, including some of glorious fallen leaves:

 

After that, we bused it on the no.65 to Kingston, where I took Husband for a gander at my old campus. From the outside it looks pretty much the same, but we sneaked in for a look at the new and swanky reception and art shop area and what was the canteen but is now some kind of creative communal space just right for brainstorming and the like. Flash. We had an early dinner at Byron Burger (oops, off the diet again; I sidestepped the Skinny burger this time AND I had an Oreo milkshake), and then a rather wobbly and full look around John Lewis. LOVE that place. We were just heading back on the train and changing at East Croydon when I jokingly said "Let's go to Ikea!" "Alright then," says Husband. "What, seriously?" says I. "Yup," he says. So off to Ikea we went. We're SO rock 'n' roll on a Friday night.

We got in after eleven hours out and about. Suffice to say, I was cream crackered and pretty much just fell into bed; it was INCREDIBLY hard to get up for library work this morning! But it was a lovely day off and I got to walk about in my favourite type of weather in my favourite season; it was worth the journey just for that.

And I suppose the company was pretty good, too!