Earlier this year attention turned to Kew Gardens when it
became apparent that severe funding cuts threatened its future. For years it had
been primarily funded by its supporting Ministry, the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) from whom Kew once sourced 90% of
its funding - the remaining percentage
being made up by self generated income. However as has occurred across the
public sector, funding cuts have seen this figure plummet to 40% in recent
years and, not surprisingly, this has left a large shortfall in the funding
needed to keep the Royal Botanical Gardens operating as it once did.
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| The Pagoda |
When my Dad first aired the news to me that Kew maybe
threatened with public closure, I will admit to having been sceptical and even
on our recent resulting visit, I maintained this opinion. I found it hard to
believe that the institution - a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing some 40
listed buildings, and which produces leading scientific research - could ever
face such a risk. But in researching this blog that naivety has been corrected and
I realise now that the situation is actually much more precarious than I
previously entertained.
For example, when we visited last Bank Holiday Monday I will admit to being a little shocked at the
price of admittance for the Gardens, but actually now understand the reasoning
for this, especially when you see the queues at each entrance to get in. The
importance of the admission fee, restaurants and shops as well as the Gardens
being available for venue hire and staging themed and seasonal events became
shockingly apparent when doing research for this blog. Clearly, in order to make
up that huge shortfall in the budget, they have to explore and exploit such
‘opportunities’ in order to sustain their existence. But just where are they
going to find further opportunities to produce the extra revenue they will no
doubt need if further cuts are implemented? And especially, without risk of
pushing people too far and hiking prices to high?
In a bid to lessen the impact of cuts, Kew has recently
undergone huge internal restructuring which unfortunately led to a large number
of staffing cuts and the loss of decade’s worth of valuable research. But if
budgets deficits are to continue in the fashion of the last two years, then
Kew’s director Richard Deverell expects that measures such as this will only
continue and two particularly unfavourable options may lie ahead. The first is further
staffing cuts and the second, reduced seasonal public opening times (1). Uncertain
times certainly lie ahead for Kew and I shall watch with interest how things
develop, but for now I’m going to turn attention to our visit; for what we
experienced was definitely somewhat of a mixed bag, I have to say!
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| Kew Gardens |
What appealed to me about Kew was that it owes much to the
tradition of ‘collecting’ that I have become fascinated with. Throughout the 18th
and 19th centuries vast areas of the world were being discovered and
explored, many for the first time, and there was huge desire amongst some
sectors of society to own and/or collect as many samples of natural specimens
as possible. And that’s exactly what happened. Specimens of plants and animals
as well as artefacts and goods, began pouring into European ports from many far
flung corners of the Earth and began to populate the collections of growing and
emerging institutions, including Kew Gardens.
The Gardens are situated within an area that has long been associated with Royal residences and it’s through this association that the exotic garden at Kew Park developed. The Royal family took up residence in Kew and began to use it as a summer palace, during which time Princess Augusta, the mother of George III, began to expand it, recruiting the help of a succession of experts to landscape the grounds. Royal interest didn’t last long however and by the 1840s responsibility for the gardens had moved into the hands of the government. Over the next few decades the Royal Botanical Gardens experienced somewhat of a revival, in part owing to its new ‘purpose’ outlined as being ‘’the promotion of botanical science throughout the empire’, to the benefit of commerce as well as knowledge’ (1). It was a hive of activity as the scientific research conducted here began to inform work across the Empire, and, after receiving royal patronage, benefitted hugely from the construction of the railway and allowed for its role as a public attraction to grow. It was also during this period that some of the iconic buildings were constructed, in particular the famous Palm and Temperate houses.
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| One of Kew's famous Temperate Houses |
Today, Kew Gardens has an equally respectable reputation, with its huge living and dried specimen stores which allow scientists access to an array of specimens, in order to continue carrying out cutting edge research, while hopefully is also working toward the preservation of species – an important task given that a quarter of known plant species are now under the threat of extinction. This newer aim is perhaps best illustrated by the opening of the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst. Opened in 2000, the bank contains seeds from all over the world in what has been described as a ‘forward looking project’ that hopes to prevent ultimate extinction of species from across the world. More generally however the Gardens aims are now also more driven towards looking after plant collections, maintaining scientific work and providing education and access to the public.
So there’s the history but what did I make of our visit?
Well, the Gardens weren’t exactly what I had pictured if I’m being honest. They
are much more like a giant park with lots of trees and landscaped areas rather
than what I would consider ‘gardens’ – there was a lack of rich and colourful
flower beds to what I had expected.
But something unexpected made it that much more appealing to
me. What I hadn’t realised was that was tucked away in corners of the Gardens,
are properties that now belong to Historic Royal Palaces. And if I’m being
honest this made the whole visit a lot more interesting for me, in particular
when I read that the Paddock near Queen
Charlotte’s cottage once housed an assortment of exotic animals, described as
‘The Royal Menagerie’. This was news to me – I knew there were Royal
Menagerie’s at Windsor Castle and the Tower of London but I hadn’t realised
there was also one here too. I put that down to my weaker knowledge on Georgian
period but having done a bit of research I can’t seem to find that much about
it.
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| Queen Charlotte's Cottage |
The Cottage was enjoyed as a picnic retreat by Queen
Charlotte and her unmarried daughters when they stayed at nearby Kew Palace.
The whole set up prompted me to think about the layout of Tiergarten Schönbrunn
in Vienna, originally established as the imperial menagerie by Holy Roman
Emperor, Francis I in 1752. It was constructed around a central ‘observatory’
where the Imperial Family would have breakfast, with enclosures then radiating
of each side. I was then a little disappointed when a quick search of the
website revealed how George III and Queen Charlotte only really kept oriental
cattle, Tartarian pheasants as well as Kangaroos – nothing terribly exotic (2).
The menagerie lasted only a short time as by 1806 the order was given to turn the
paddock into a flower garden – so it seems I might have let my imagination run
away with me a little or at the very least our definitions of menagerie are
very different.
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| Kew Palace |
But what other secrets did Kew Gardens have to reveal? Well,
it turns out the White House at Kew is where George III was incarcerated when
he went ‘mad’ in 1788. This cloud marked the beginning of the end of the
Royalty’s love with Kew Palace and its Gardens. The King suffered two further
outbreaks of what experts think was Porphyria, in 1801 and 1804 and on each
occasion was moved to Kew away from the public eye. It was also in this royal
residence that in 1818 Queen Charlotte later
died, having witnessed the marriage of 2 of her sons to German Princesses
during her supposed convalescence; one of which resulted in the birth of the
future Queen, Victoria.
It seems Kew was not really used by royalty after the
Georgian period. At the end of her long reign, Queen Victoria did open the
palace to the public, in 1898, and in more recent history it has undergone
major restoration and was reopened by HRP in 2006. (This is a real potted
history – the guide book is full of information and interesting facts about
each building).
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| The Clerk's Office in the Palace Kitchens |
The results of this restoration on visitor experience are
beyond what I’ve come to expect of HRP. It seems to have implemented a similar
approach to that at Hampton Court Palace and has removed some of the boundaries
and ‘stuffiness’ that once defined HRP properties. There was a particular instance
when we were looking into one of the rooms in the Royal Kitchens and were able
to walk right in and oddly enough, it felt as if we shouldn’t have done - like
I’d just blatantly disregarded a barrier or ‘do not enter’ sign that would
usually have stopped/prevented me from walking in and that some horrific alarm
was about to blare out and prompt a member of staff to come running. But this didn’t
happen and I was really surprised, so much so I commented on this to Dad and we
were interrupted (in a good way) by a member of staff/volunteer who explained how
pleased she was to hear those comments, remarking “great, we’re doing something
right”. She went on to explain that it was the goal for visitors to feel as if
they’ve just entered the room when the original occupant had just left and that
is exactly the feeling I got. I also really liked the fact you could touch
everything in the Clerk’s Office; the items and furniture were either replicas
or items that you could handle and that was really great. It’s just not
something I’d expect of HRP given that most of my childhood visits to these
places were restricted by ropes, glass and closed doors.
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| The Alpine Garden |
So how would I sum up our visit to Kew? Well the visit and
the post-visit research I’ve done have both surprised me, in both a good way
and not so good way. I loved finding the unexpected and that’s exactly what I
got in discovering the historic properties and royal link – not to mention the
‘royal menagerie’. I was a little disappointed in the lack of ‘colour’ – there
were lovely landscaped areas and it was full of character but it lacked colour and
the sense of exotic I’d expected from the gardens. I really thought it was
going to be a botanical showcase but it wasn’t.
However, am I glad I went? Yes
I am, because I now appreciate what a loss it would be if funding cuts did
bring about further staff cuts and restrict opening times. There were people
queuing down the block to get in at each of the entrances we passed, cars
circling for places to park and lots of families enjoying their day out to Kew.
It’s a part of history – it’s seen and been involved in so much and so much can
be learnt by a visit if you choose to engage rather than just walk and admire
the beauty, which is an equally valuable option. I wouldn’t necessarily go
again soon, but I’m definitely glad that I’ve visited at least once and would recommend
it – especially if it’s a sunny day!
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