A Choc-a-block full programme at Kew this Easter

Angela MacFarlane, Kew’s Head of Public Engagement and Learning says, “Easter at Kew this year is all about family adventure, fun, learning and, of course, heaps of chocolate! Come and explore all that goes into a chocolate bar with our arts and crafts workshops, then take a stroll through the glasshouses to find the plants involved in making these delicious treats. The traditional Easter Egg hunt is a fantastic way to start your Sunday Bank Holiday morning.”

Join in the Easter Egg Hunt (Sunday 24 April from 9.30am to 1pm), and seek out Buzzie Bee, Slipper and Venus, the friendly characters from Climbers and Creepers, who will be hiding 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.

Take a walk around the Easter themed chocolate sculptures of chicks and bunnies ending off in the chocolate sculpture garden, where everyday products that we rely on from plants will be made with chocolate.

Visit the Easter chocolate workshops and let the little ones get some hands on experience in sculpting chocolate, while learning about the huge variety of plants that go into producing a tasty bar.
If creativity makes you hungry, come get your hands sticky at chocolate taster sessions, delivered by in-house caterers Peyton & Byrne. Afterwards drop into one of the ‘hands on’ sessions exploring the origins and uses of the Theobroma cacao (chocolate tree).

A family adventure into the world of chocolate awaits, with a self-guided walk through the Gardens introducing the variety of plants that are involved in the production of chocolate. Families can start out at any of Kew’s four entrances and work together to locate the plants in the Glasshouses.
The Kew shop is celebrating Easter with a variety of books, plants and chocolate goodies, as well as honeys of the world and fragranced toiletries. The shop is an essential destination for anybody with a sweet tooth this Easter! To look at our full range of Easter goodies, please visit: http://shop.kew.org/

The biggest display of colour in the country…
Kew Gardens will be transformed into a landscape of warmth and vibrant colour this spring. With over five million bulbs, come and witness the flowering splendour of swathes of crocuses, snowdrops, daffodils, rhododendrons and azaleas.

On entering the Gardens at Victoria Gate (from mid February), visitors will be greeted with a sea of over two million blue, white, and mauve crocuses (Crocus vernus) stretching beyond the Temple of Bellona and towards King William's Temple. Take a stroll down the length of the Broad Walk bathed in the glorious sunny glow of daffodils, the perfect setting for a gentle amble on a sunny spring day (from March onwards). Visitors will also be able to enjoy the sight of Kew’s breathtaking trees as they awaken and burst with new life.

Later in the season thousands of deep blue, starry flowered Chionodoxa siehei carpet the lawns surrounding White Peaks. These delicate alpine plants are known as Glory of the Snow in western Turkey as they emerge from the melting snow of the mountains. To really get the most from the Gardens at this wonderful time of year, join one of Kew’s free guided tours – ‘Blossoms and Blooms’ and ‘Tree Identification’ hosted by our volunteer guides, and marvel at the beauty blooming in every corner. Tours leave from Victoria Gate throughout the day.
Keep up to date with all that’s blooming and when at Kew by checking out our BulbWatch map at: http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/BulbWatch/
 

For more information please contact the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Press Office on 020 8332 5607 or email pr@kew.org

Images are available to download from www.kew.org/press/images. Please contact the press office for the username and password.

• Opening hours: 9.30am – 4.15pm (until February 5), 9.30 – 5.30 (until March 26). Weekends and bank holidays close an hour later.
• Last entry to the Gardens, the glasshouses, galleries and the Xstrata Treetop Walkway is 30 minutes before closing.
• Admission: Adults £13.90, Concessions £11.90, free for children under 17 (with an adult).
• Visitor information: 020 8332 5655 or see our Visit pages.

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 celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2009. Wakehurst Place is home to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world. RBG Kew and its partners have collected and conserved seed from 10 per cent of the world's wild flowering plant species (c.30, 000 species). The aim is to conserve 25% by 2020, and its enormous potential for future conservation can only be fulfilled with the support of the public and other funders.

Kew receives funding from the UK Government through Defra for approximately half of its income and is also reliant on support from other sources. Without the voluntary monies raised through membership, donations and grants, Kew would have to significantly scale back activities at a time when, as environmental challenges become ever more acute, its resources and expertise are needed in the world more than ever. Kew needs to raise significant funds both in the UK and overseas. Members of the public can support the work of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership by getting involved with the ‘Adopt a Seed, Save a Species' campaign. For £25 an individual can adopt a seed or for £1000 anyone can save an entire species. www.kew.org/adoptaseed.