Have an Eggcellent Easter at Kew's new outdoor play area - Treehouse Towers, sponsored by Velvet

April 2010

Easter activities at Kew Gardens run 5 - 18 April 2010

Come to Kew Gardens this Easter holidays, for a fun filled family day out. Youngsters can play the morning away on Kew’s brand new outdoor play zone, Treehouse Towers; join a special tour to discover the fascinating trees in Kew’s glasshouses; watch a puppet show or get stuck in to a creative activity workshop.

Professor Stephen Hopper, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew says, “Each week we welcome thousands of children and their parents to Kew Gardens. We are very pleased that we are now able, through support from Velvet, to open Treehouse Towers - it provides an exciting, dynamic play area for children to enjoy, and learn about the importance of trees in the environment and their uses in the world."

Treehouse Towers

Kew’s tree-themed outdoor play zone, Treehouse Towers opens on 2 April 2010. Located outside Climbers and Creepers, Kew’s indoor botanical play zone, Treehouse Towers, supported by Velvet, allows up to 300 kids to climb up ladders, clamber across rope bridges and slide their way down three towers. Suitable for kids aged from 3 to 11 years, the area features a 20m long zip wire, 2 giant swings, scramble nets, slides and a mountaineering ramp, for families to enjoy, whilst also offering educational opportunities for children to learn about and appreciate trees.

Treehouse Towers is funded by Velvet family toilet roll, who have ensured that all elements of the play area are created from FSC certified wood, tying in with their ‘three trees’ initiative, where they ensure that three trees are replanted for every one used.

During the spring season, trees start to wake up and burst with new life, and to tie in with the launch of TreehouseTowers, throughout the Easter holidays kids can take part in special tree-themed activity workshops at KewGardens. There will be a varied programme of free activities and workshops, to check what’s on when see www.kew.org/easter

Easter Bank Holiday Weekend

Easter Egg Hunt (Sunday 4 April, 9.30 – 12.30pm, or until the eggs run out). Seek out Buzzie Bee, Wriggler, Snap, Trap and Venus, the friendly characters from Climbers and Creepers, who will be waiting around the Gardens for youngsters to pick up the tokens needed to collect a delicious Green & Black's Easter chocolate treat from the Easter Bunny.
Easter Arts and Craft workshops: Drop in to the Easter-themed workshops and make Easter bonnets and smart top hats; weave paper feathered nests and decorate paper eggs; and twirling hand puppets of flapping chickens and floppy-eared bunnies.

Daily Activities

Biodiversity Trail: Follow the ‘Biodiversity Trail’ around the Gardens, taking in the diversity of the plants and animals of Kew, and discover as a family how all living things from plants to humans are connected and could not exist alone.
Help create a Tree-mendous art installation: Drop into the Nash Conservatory where you can join Creatmosphere in creating a giant tree installation using recycled paper. As the festival progresses help transform these white paper trees through the seasons and find out more about trees role in biodiversity.

Weekday Activities

Tree Discovery Tours in Kew’s majestic glasshouses: Join a special tour, lead by Kew’s expert horticulturists, to discover some of the fascinating trees housed in Kew’s Palm House and Princess of Wales Conservatory. Find out about where they come from, their uses from medicines to food, and how to care for these exotic trees.
Plant Rescue: A tale of discovery, extinction and conservation- Drop into the Secluded Glasshouse to hear about Kew’s scientists’ work on the remote island of St Helena. In these hands-on-sessions visitors can see beautiful botanical drawings by 19th C botanist, W.J Burchell, look through maps and photos of recent expeditions, and see examples of some of the plants collected and conserved by Kew.

Weekend Activities

‘The Life of a Tree’ Puppet Show: At Munch Box, located inside Climbers and Creepers, families will be entertained by a colourful and interactive puppet show. Follow the dynamic story of ‘the life of a tree’; starting when a bird disperses seed, which grows from a tiny delicate sapling into a tree. As a tree’s branches reach into the sky and its roots travel into the earth, learn about how it becomes a home for insects, animals and birds and helps to give us the air we breathe.

For further information about please contact the Kew press office on 020 8332 5607 or email pr@kew.org
Images are available at www.kew.org/press/images please contact the press office for the username and password.

Notes to Editors

Opening hours: Please see http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/visit-information/opening-times/index.htm Last entry to the Gardens, the glasshouses, galleries and the Xstrata Treetop Walkway is 30 minutes before closing.
Admission: Adults £13.50, Concessions £11.50, FREE for children under 17 (with an adult)
Visitor Information: 020 8332 5655 or info@kew.org
Website: www.kew.org

Treehouse Towers
Velvet family toilet tissue’ is running two competitions (from 31 March – 30 May 2010) for schools and families, asking entrants to draw their ultimate fantasy tree. Prizes include a VIP trip to Kew Gardens, and the winners artworks will be on display in Climbers and Creepers at Kew Gardens. For more details see www.velvetbabymd.com

For more information on the competition please contact Jenna Peyto on jenna.p@haygarth.co.uk at the Velvet press office on 020 8971 3300

Treehouse Towers was built and installed by Eibe (www.eibe.co.uk)

Easter Festival details: See www.kew.org/easter

SCA is the leading supplier of tissue in Europe. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, SCA’s products can be found almost everywhere and in the UK, leading brands include Velvet, Plenty Charmin and Tempo. As a business group within the Swedish SCA Group, SCA Tissue Europe employs approximately 8,600 people and generated a turnover of approximately 2.7 billion Euros in 2008. For further information please visit: www.sca.com

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding living collection of plants and world-class Herbarium as well as its scientific expertise in plant diversity, conservation and sustainable development in the UK and around the world. Kew Gardens is a major international visitor attraction. Its landscaped 132 hectares and RBG Kew's country estate, Wakehurst Place, attract nearly 2 million visitors every year. Kew was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003, and throughout 2010 is celebrating ‘Biodiversity Year at Kew’.