The Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens in London has recently been restored to its 18th century splendour — that’s the wording of the website, by the way. The restoration included the return of 80 dragons on the roofs, each carved from wood and gilded with gold.
Here are two shots of the Pagoda itself, in which you can make out the dragons once you know that’s what the things sticking out from the roofs are!
The underside of a glasshouse roof, Kew Gardens.
I wasn’t sure which roof photo to start off with, but our host Becky kicked off with a Kew Gardens duo so I thought I’d follow her lead. This IS a roof, but the bottom of one. 🙂
June Squares: Roof If you have a photo (or two!) of a roof, join in!
Fountain in a garden in Regent’s Park, London
A new challenge, what fun! This time the focus is on fountains, hosted by Polianthus. This is a great way to share archived photos of fountains, and a great excuse to take new photos (like I need more photos to edit, groan!). For March, the theme is fountains in a garden, and first up from me are two from London.
A wintry fountain, Kew Gardens, London
Right, prepare to scroll down and down … herewith, the remaining Bench Series 2015 photos, presented geographically. It’s a mix of incidental benches and focus benches. I’d like to give a huge thanks to Jude to hosting and organising this challenge all year. I now have to train myself to stop photographing every bench I see!
Franciscan Gardens, Prague (shame about the garbage can!)
Along the Corniche, Cannes
The promenade, Galle
The British Library
St Dunstan
And a trio from Kew Gardens, one of my favourite London places.
Strange metal mesh kangaroo lurking behind benches at Kew
Wintry sunlight at Kew
Bluebells at Kew
Prime viewing benches for the races
Blue benches lining the pier
I love Eastbourne. I used to walk along the coast, up and down those rolling chalk cliffs with the amazing views out to sea.
I don’t mean to be cryptic about the location, I just forget where this is!
A drizzly day in Wales, and the remains of a church.
I don’t remember the name of my hotel, but it had this lovely grotto out back.
Grotto, bench and wine glass
Benches on the street
Outside the New Mexico Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Native Art
Never heard of Lamy? Me neither. But I spent a few hot hours at its train station, waiting for a train whose arrival time became later and later …
Waiting room, Lamy Amtrak station
Another place you may never have heard of — unless you’ve taken the train to the Grand Canyon.
A marvellous use for old train parts!
El Tovar Hotel
A bench made from a log. I did not try this one for comfort, I admit.
This is Oak Alley Plantation, well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Oak Alley Plantation
And that, you’ll be relieved to learn if you’ve made it this far down the page, is the end of the Bumper Bench Bonanza. “Thank you” to everyone who has visited these posts over the past year!
