My sister and I took advantage of a one night stopover at Heathrow to attend “Christmas at Kew.” It was fun and festive. Various light/art installations along a trail through Kew Gardens are lovely and a festive family atmosphere exists. There are various food/drink opportunities available as well.
If you are in London during the holidays, consider adding this activity.
my wife and I had - through the generous contribution of a friend - the privilege of going last year. We had an absolutely fabulous evening at the Christmas at Kew. I took a video of one of lighting installations with real fire which I use as a Zoom background.
Agreed about the excellent (but not cheap) food.
A word to the wise, experience tells me that if you are going around with person with visual impairment a strong flashlight or charged phone for the torch. The path is easy to follow by foot and cane but there were quite a few dips and hollows. Easy when the sighted person can see them coming...
We'd love to go again...
I'm hoping to do a Christmas Lights trip next Nov/Dec and plan to do this one evening. I'm on their mailing list so I can buy tickets as soon as they go on sale next spring. They do sell out so if there is a particular date and time that you've got in mind this is one of the things you should book in advance! At present it looks like they are completely booked thru the end of the year except for a few random times from the Elizabeth Gate entrance. Some availability after the New Year.
Good to know about the food as well as the need for supplemental lighting!
Carol, just curious as to how your arranged your transport from Heathrow to Kew and back?
@ Pam- We took the tube. Piccadilly line to Hammersmith and then transferred to the District line to Kew Gardens stop. Less than a 5 minute walk to the Victoria Gate. Over all, about 45 minutes each way.
I am glad you have this on your plans!
Glad to hear your report and comments about what to expect. We'll be in London 12/16-27 (and back 1/4-8). I stumbled onto "Christmas at Kew" a couple weeks ago and booked 3 tickets at 5:00 on 12/19, just because we love visiting Kew Gardens in the summer. (There seemed to be a specific number of tickets available every 20 minutes, from 16:00 to 20:00, at each of the 3 gates.)
Pleased that we have tickets and now know what to look forward to. Thanks.
the reason for the time brackets is that it is a one-way trail around. There are a few branches and a few alternates but basically everybody is going the same way, and they are trying to spread it so there is a reasonable number on the trails all the way around.
It is beautiful.
There is no restriction on stopping at certain things, and no restriction on how long you spend at, say, the food villages, once you're in.
There is a map which shows where the food is, but it is cunningly hidden under a not obvious link. I found it last year. The link for this year is https://www.kew.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/14694%20Christmas%20at%20Kew%20signage%20A4_Food%20Map%20V4.pdf It shows the main trail so is very helpful to understand the route.
Carol, thanks for the extra info on your transit route. It was not as convoluted as my mind had made it out to be, hahaha!! NOT that I'll be visiting from Heathrow but it might be helpful for others who've built in a layover.
Carol, we hope to get to Kew on a possible trip to London in the fall, thanks for posting!
