This post is for my dear friend Jane – and she will know why.

Spring is very late coming this year. I know this particularly as it’s my birthday in a couple of days’ time and so I can recall birthdays when spring was further along, apple blossom on trees, a taste of summer in the air and even sun cream needed. However, the long wet winter and frequent strong cold winds have kept that March feeling going for far too long, so it’s been great over the last day or so to be blessed with some warm weather – and sun!!

With blue skies and the promise of the temperature hitting the early 20s, I couldn’t resist going to Kew Gardens this morning. You’ll find a lot of information about these world famous botanical gardens on the blog, so this is more of a photo post – to share my lovely walk. I entered the Gardens by the lower Lion Gate, rather than my usual main Victoria Gate. This is a quieter area, close to the Pagoda (that’s currently undergoing renovation so has some scaffolding on it) and a wooded area.

By the Japanese garden, cherry trees were in full blossom and looked so beautiful.

Cherry blossom and a very tall pine tree reaching up to catch the sun.

I found a huge and wonderful tree house that’s just been built. It won’t open until the summer but you can enjoy walking round this quiet woodland area, follow a log trail and see the badger sett.

I always love spending time by the lake and there are plenty of benches to sit and enjoy a moment of peace. Although there were some very noisy geese chasing around this morning, calling excitedly to one another.

In the main, trees and bushes were still fairly bare of blossom – apart from those wonderful cherry trees. Even the magnolias were hardlly showing signs of flowers. I guess I might have found camellias flowering, as my own in my garden are, but Kew Gardens is a huge place and I didn’t get round to the ‘camellia’ area today.

The area outside the Palm House is always well planted out, changing frequently with the seasons, and this was full of colour.

It was a lovely walk. It’s a privilege to live so close to these fabulous Gardens, and lucky that I can visit them early in the morning, and midweek, when it’s not as crowded as weekends. If you want to see more photos of Kew, or know more about the Gardens, take a look at my A Year in Kew Gardens series when I followed Kew through a whole year, recording the changes and highlights of each month.