Press Release

Garden and nature lovers - treat yourself to a unique experience…

Kew Gardens and Wakehurst Place are springing into 2008 with a new programme of courses and events for adults.

Kew Gardens will have the biggest display of spring flowers in the country this year and the new one day course ‘Bulbs' provides excellent advice for all budding horticulturists wishing to revamp their garden. This excellent day out considers bulbs growing in the wild and in cultivation and gives tips on displaying them in your own garden or containers. It includes a ramble in the Gardens to look at some of Kew's world class collection of bulbs - such as tulips, fritillaries and iris - growing in the open as well as in the Alpine Yard. The course is on the 16 April at Kew, 10:30 - 16:00, and costs £50.

The vegetable growing course with professional gardener and broadcaster Matthew Biggs proved a great success at Kew last year. It is running again to teach all the essentials for growing under glass, pest control and everything you need to know to ensure that your plot is productive all year round. Matthew is also teaching a new Introduction to Herbs course. The ‘Asparagus to zucchini of vegetable gardening' runs at Kew on 24 April, 10:30 - 16:00 , and is £50 per person. ‘An introduction to herbs' runs on the 26 June at Kew, 10.30 - 16.00, and also costs £50 per person.

The summer festival at Kew this year will celebrate everything that is glorious about trees. Come and gain inspiration amongst Kew's impressive arboretum on our new two day ‘Photographing Trees' course with specialist photographer, Edward Parker. It will include tuition on how to photograph entire trees as well as details of bark and leaves. In addition it will look at how using different techniques - such as using directional and soft lighting, colour and composition - can enhance the final image, as well as teaching you how to get the most out of your own digital equipment.  This runs from the 15 - 16 May at Kew and the course costs £120 per person.

If you fancy sitting back and relaxing at an interesting lecture why not spend an evening listening to writer and photographer Archie Miles' in the ‘Hidden Trees of Britain' at Kew on the 5 June, 7pm. Archie Miles' latest book, ‘Hidden Trees of Britain' is the culmination of a personal odyssey to find the strangest, rarest, largest and most obscure trees and treescapes of Britain. In this lecture you'll hear the multitude of wonderful stories associated with these trees, also their historical, cultural and botanical significance in the nation's natural heritage. Archie Miles has been a professional photographer for more than thirty years, and a writer for about eighteen years. Tickets cost £5.

The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens, opening in April 2008, will be the first gallery in the world dedicated to botanical art and open to the public all year round. Delve into this fascinating world with a ten day course learning about the working practice of a botanical illustrator at Kew and also discover the methods and materials required for this unique talent. The basis of good detailed botanical illustration is the understanding of precise drawing techniques and these are demonstrated and emphasised during the course. ‘Kew school of botanical illustration' runs from the 9 – 20 June and costs £695.

There is also lots to do if you are interested in wildlife and Wakehurst Place is offering ‘Kingfisher and Badger watching' evenings. The Loder Valley Nature Reserve forms part of the Wakehurst Place estate and offers the valuable combination of woodland, wetland and meadowland habitats, that are ideal for wildlife. Managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, it is dedicated to the conservation of the plants and animals of the Sussex Weald. Normally only accessible to visitors by permit, these evening events in the reserve will be led by the warden. Evenings are from 17.30 to 21.30 on the 19 and 22 May as well as the 7 August at Wakehurst Place, Sussex .

Notes to Editors

For course information/enquiries please contact the Adult Education Co-ordinator on 020 8332 5626 or email adulted@kew.org . Why not give a place on one of our courses or lectures as a gift? We are more than happy to arrange for a special card to be sent, whatever the occasion. Please contact the Adult Education Department for more details.

For further press information please contact Catherine Owen, Bronwyn Friedlander or Anna Quenb in the Kew Gardens press office on 020 8332 5607 or email pr@kew.org .

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Kew Gardens is a major international visitor attraction and its 132 hectares of landscaped gardens attract over one million visitors per year. Kew was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and represents over 250 years of historical landscape. The site houses over 40 listed buildings and other structures including the Palm House, Temperate House, Orangery and Pagoda as well as two ancient monuments, Queen Charlotte's Cottage and Kew Palace . RBG, 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.

Wakehurst Place, Ardingly

Wakehurst Place at Ardingly, four miles north of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, is open daily from 10am. For further information telephone 01444 890466 or visit the website www.kew.org. Children under 17 are free, accompanied by adults.

Adult education course in full

Feb 14 Stone Carving Kew/RACC

Feb14 Wood Carving Kew/RACC

Feb 15 Slip Casting & Press Moulding Kew/RACC

Feb 15 Figurative Clay Sculpture Kew/RACC

Feb 19 Lecture: Heartbeats of the Earth Kew

Feb 21 Orchids for Beginners Kew

March 4 Orchids for Beginners WP

March 11 Drawing Inspired by Nature Kew/RACC

March 18 Lecture: Yew: A History WP

March 27 Living Willow Seats WP

April 8 Willow Designs for the Garden WP

April 16 Bulbs Kew

April 22 Lecture: The Brother Gardeners Kew

April 24 The Asparagus to Zucchini of Vegetable Gardening Kew

April 29 – 2 May Creative Plant Photography Kew

May 6 Millennium Seedbank Lecture 1 of 3 WP

May 10 Spring Photography Workshop WP

May 15-16 Photographing Trees Kew

May 19 Kingfisher and Badger Watching Evening WP

May 22 Kingfisher and Badger Watching Evening WP

June 3 Millennium Seedbank Lecture 2 of 3 WP

June 5 Lecture: The Hidden Trees of Britain Kew

June 9 – 20 Kew School of Botanical Illustration Kew

June 26 An Introduction to Herbs Kew

July 1 Millennium Seedbank Lecture 3 of 3 WP

July 8 Lecture: Dragonflies WP

August 7 Kingfisher and Badger Watching Evening WP

August 14 Bat Evening WP

September 4 Planning your own Japanese Garden Kew

September 8-12 Distance & Detail: Drawing and Painting Plants Kew

September 23 Basic Bushcraft WP

October 27 – 31 Botany for Beginners Kew

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