Western Zone

One of the more relaxing and isolated parts of the Gardens, the area is nonetheless popular with visitors, many of whom arrive through Brentford Gate with its associated car park.

It is interesting for its important specific collections, such as the Azalea Garden planted in 1882, linked by collections of trees, and the Bamboo Garden, established in 1891-2, which now holds not only the largest collection of bamboos in the country, but also a genuine Japanese Minka - a typical wood-framed house donated by a Japanese conservation group.

There are also some surviving historic landscape features, such as Capability Brown's Hollow Walk, now known as the Rhododendron Dell and traces of Charles Bridgeman's much-celebrated Riverside Terrace.

More modern features included, in 2003, a range of Idea Gardens by Kew final year Diploma students and the Defra Biodiversity Garden, designed by Chelsea Royal Flower Show Gold Medal winner, Mary Reynolds.

The area still has strong physical and visual links with the Thames, even though some 19th and 20th century plantings were specifically designed to screen off industrial development in Brentford from the Gardens.

Continue the tour

Bamboo Garden

Japanese Minka

Rhododendron Dell

Azalea Garden

Defra Biodiversity Garden

Student Idea Gardens

Back up to: Kew Zones

Carry on to: Riverside Zone

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History of the Western zone