Kew is one of the great world gardens, pleasure parks, research and protective facilities. It has fabulous trees and plants, historic properties, musuems, childrens activites and learning opportunities.

First they should realise that my Kew is à suburb of Melbourne Australia, not London. It is a delightful place with historic buidings, several golf courses, hundreds of hectares of unspoiled riverside parks, more private schools than almost any suburb in the world, fantastic tram network and a tolerant and good natured humaniist tradition dating from its days as the site of Australia's largest mental health institutions. There are great restaurants, fine private and public gardens, quirky museums, beautiful churches and a great spontaneity of social interaction across cultures and age groups.

Kew Gardens is a great place to spend the day. Try and get a two for one deal on the entrance ticket if you can, either via a gardening magazine or via the train companies. Lots of walking so take comfy shoes and although food is lovely in the garden, there's plenty of places to sit and have a picnic to make it cheaper. There are also water fountains scattered around the park. If you're in Kew for a couple of days, visit the London Museum of Water and Steam, it's just across the kew bridge and in walking distance of the Kew Garden Hotel, which is a great Hotel/Pub to stay in. The museum has plenty to entertain the children, especially if you time your visit with the weekends they fire up the enormous steam pumps. If Ivan Fear is working that day, hunt him down and get him to tell you all about his life with the pumps, some fascinating stories for young and old and he brings the place to life. Ask him about making icecream with the big water wheel outside!

The service was outstanding. We received a warm welcome. Parking permit was immediately taken care of. The room was big enough to host the 3 of us without having the feeling to squeeze everything. There was enough room to walk around the baby cot, which was immediately made available to us upon arrival. This saved us the hassle of unpacking our own baby cot. We had a 1.5 yr daughter along, and she loved exploring the restaurant. Breakfast was a real winner, and we could order anything of the menu. Our lunch at the hotel was very good as well. The proximity to Kew gardens was a real plus too. Overall, we loved our stay and would definitely recommend staying at Kew Gardens Hotel when visiting Kew gardens. We had dinner at an Indian / Nepalese place Rara which was less than 5 minutes away.

I am sure that many Americans would love to live the way the people of Kew live. Many residents can walk from their Edwardian homes to the village center and shop at the butcher, the flower shop, eat at several excellent restaurants, shop for groceries at a Tesco satellite, buy children's clothes and books at cute boutiques, go to the bank, get a massage, have a drink at the pub, order a coffee at Starbucks, and hop on the subway. All of these shops and services are within 50 feet of each other. Clearly, the merchants know their customers and neighbors wish each other a good morning. It is absolutely delightful. The Botanical Garden is gorgeous and only a five minute walk from the center of the village, and the National Archives are less than ten minutes away on foot. The Kew Gardens Hotel is around the corner from the shops and offers a real British pub and excellent accommodations. This is the way people should live everywhere.