First and foremost, before we get into the how-tos and what to-dos about the annual Kew Gardens Orchid Festival, I want to give a small brief on what Kew Gardens is and what it shows to the public. 

Kew Gardens, located in London, is a botanic garden that is home to tens of thousands of plants. The garden is nothing new and was originally founded privately to the royals (at the time) in the 1750s, and then thankfully opened to the public in the 1840s. This garden has been labelled as the most biodiverse place on earth, and it truly does feel like it when visiting.

The Kew Gardens Orchid Festival has a fee but it is completely worth it; when I went it was around £20. I went in the evening, and this was for adults only as it was the orchid after-hours festival, which in short meant there was a bar that was also stocked up on snacks. This particular festival is held annually at the end of winter and start of spring, but the gardens are still open in the daytime and are just as beautiful. 

I live in the east of London, and the travel time was quite long (two hours), as the gardens are located in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames. There are a few travel links which does make it quite accessible, as there is a local train station (Kew Bridge station) and bus links. Upon entering, there was a bag check and a person waiting to scan your e-ticket, which is pretty standard for events like this. There was a map of the indoor orchid botanical garden propped up at the entrance, and is quite easy to understand and remember.

My visit

Now that I have got that out of the way, I will get into what can be seen when going to the gardens. I went in late of February, which was when the Orchid Festival had returned, as well as the orchid after-hours 18+ (which is the one I went to). There are different themes and events hosted all year round, and it changes as the months go on. When I visited, many events were happening in different sections of the garden, such as talks about the plants from scientists and poems from poets. As it was not a guided tour, I was free to walk around and move on to the next rooms full of different plants. 

Once in the conservatory, an aroma of different scents hit my nose some smelt like what could only be described as sweet vanilla and others were very strong and had a musky scent. I am a fan of flowers but sadly suffer from hay fever so going around sniffing the flowers was not on my to-do list—but just from walking past them you could definitely smell them. The flowers and plants were so beautiful and vibrant that they didn’t look real at first until I got close and was able to see the realness of them and smell (only a few) of them. It was truly a sight to see so many different species of orchids…there were also what felt like 100s of cactuses around. I myself love cactuses and was so excited to see a cactus in real life that was taller than me.

Like most conservatories and indoor gardens, it had to be kept at a certain temperature, which meant it was very humid and warm inside. This was especially nice, as February was very cold and it seemed like a more natural way of heating. Because of this, the air I could only describe as feeling thick not in a bad way but more dense than outside, just like a butterfly garden. All of my senses felt altered and exposed to new feelings. However I think it made the experience so much better, as it truly felt like I had been transported out of the UK and into a more vibrant, warm, and cosy place.

As I said, there were many different showings from scientific talks to live music. The band that was playing in my visit was a Malagasy band called the Boriza Brothers, which played authentic music that was very soothing and lovely to listen to; I believe other people felt the same, as the band had quite a big audience as the evening went on and this performance was in the same section as the bar, which created a lovely atmosphere for light conversation and chats whilst being surrounded by nature.

In total, I stayed there for over 2 hours, which made up for the length of travel time and was a lovely way to end a Friday night. I could continue to write about the festival for pages on end, but I think showing you what is inside would give a better explanation than me. The Orchid Festival is a truly beautiful sight to see and a must-see once in your life, so plan a detour to this festival, if not next year the year after (it is annual, so no need to rush). Every corner of the indoor garden is picture-worthy, and although the pictures do show what is seen, it is 10x better in real life. So now onto the photographs.

Teagan Rowland is the Cultural Editor for Wandering Educators, and is currently pursuing a media and communications degree at London Metropolitan University. She is passionate about photography and how the world looks through different lenses, ranging from capturing landscapes to more intimate portraits. You can find her occasionally penning pieces about her photographic experiences. Teagan is an enthusiastic consumer of television, film, and books, immersing herself deeply in the realms of both mediums. She has dedicated over 12 years to practising Goju-Ryu Karate, where she's attained the rank of junior black belt.
 
All photos courtesy and copyright Teagan Rowland