Temperate House — Attraction in London

Discover rare and threatened plants in the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse.

Travel the world in this truly impressive cathedral of plants – home to 1,200 species from Asia, Australasia, the Americas, and Africa.

Following a major five-year renovation process, the Grade 1 listed Temperate House re-opened in 2018 to showcase the splendour of the world’s temperate flora.

As tender plants, most of the species grown in the Temperate House are unable to tolerate temperatures below freezing with a preferred minimum temperature kept at around 10 degrees Celsius through the UK’s cold winters.

The Temperate House tells the story of how Kew and their global partners are working to rescue plants that are rare or already extinct in the wild. The glasshouse holds significant collections of threatened island flora from some of the earth’s most remote locations like the Island of Saint Helena, the Pitcairn Islands and Juan Fernández Islands.

Filled with roughly 3000 individual plants, this vast collection may help us find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues, from climate change to loss of biodiversity or food security.

Enriched by over 260 years of plant expertise, the Temperate House is an iconic landmark and a showcase of contemporary horticultural...

After its recent refurb, it’s such a lovely, bright and airy space. The beds seem really well developed and laid out and give the impression of having been there much longer than they have been. The upper walkway offers such a nice perspective across everything. It’s genuinely amazing what some clean glass and plenty of sunshine can do for the space. Maybe not as striking as some of the other houses, but absolutely...

Another impressively large glasshouse, cooler and less humid than the palm house. This glasshouse features a huge range of plants and trees from temperate climates like the Mediterranean, South Africa and New Zealand. This glasshouse features a walkway around the central space as well. Whilst providing impressive views, the walkway feels higher than its counterpart in the Palm House due to the lack of plant...