My sister came from Canada for a family wedding, so we have enjoyed some days out. When she was here last year, we followed a trail around London, looking for garish painted statues. It was unexpectedly fun, so when we saw there is a ‘Tusk Gorilla Trail’ around Covent Garden, we downloaded the map and set off. ‘Setting off’ involves more planning these days, due to train strikes (sooo much I could write here) but the day we chose was lucky for both trains and weather. (English summer weather could be a whole blog.)

We walked from Victoria Station, and avoided the millions of people who had come to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. I like walking through London with my sister—she’s a photographer (amongst other things) and she makes me notice things I wouldn’t see otherwise. The trails are mainly fun because they take you to streets you wouldn’t normally visit, so although finding ugly gorillas (they were very ugly) is not especially compelling, the side-benefits are definitely worth it. As we followed the map, we met a few other people (all with children) doing the same thing. We shared hunting tips (some were hidden in squares or shops, so not easy to find) and tried not to notice that we were about 40 years too old. Next time perhaps we should kidnap a child to take with us.

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Our next trip was to Wakefield Place. This time we took Husband with us. We knew there was a seed bank there—not the baby-making kind. They keep samples of millions of seeds (2 billion, to be exact) in a huge vault under the ground. Visitors can wander around the centre, which has information boards and glass screens to protect the scientists from the tourists.

Apparently, most seeds can be dried out, which preserves their life and keeps successive generations safe. However, some seeds die if they’re dried, so they need specialised storage facilities to preserve them. It is these ‘recalcitrant’ seeds that the seed bank are researching. When you visit, if you are lucky, as well as seeing the information boards, you might see a rare scientist, complete with white lab coat and gloves, studying things (I assume seeds) under microscopes. It’s not unlike visiting a zoo, though only the brashest of visitors would photograph them.

Underground (where visitors are not allowed) they keep the temperature at -20˚C (with a wind chill—produced by fans—of -27˚C). My sister, who teaches in Calgary, was unimpressed by this, as she does outside playground duty in temperatures of  -20˚C most winters. But perhaps the fans are what make it dangerous down there.

After the seed bank, we explored the rest of Wakehurst place. It’s very nice, with lots of different sections to the gardens. I loved the wild areas, especially the ‘Boulder Walk’ which had trees growing over rocks, with their roots displayed. It felt almost indecent, like looking up someone’s skirt. There were some art installations (I am the wrong audience for them) and a very nice teashop. Unlike some properties, I didn’t feel everything was over-priced and designed to fleece the unsuspecting tourist (an annual pass is £35). We shared a pot of tea for £3.50, and sat outside, watching toddlers roll on the grass. If I’d thought about it, we could have come here first and kidnapped a couple to take on our gorilla trail. Maybe next year.

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We are planning an outing to the beautiful city of Cambridge. I’ll tell you about it in my next blog.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely week.
Take care.
Love, Anne x

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