First established in the mid 1700s by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury, the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens are among the most famous botanical gardens in the UK and of course, also some of the most famous greenhouses anywhere on the planet.

They’re well known for a variety of reasons, all of them significant ones.

The Royal Gardens at Kew is home to the world’s largest collection of plants, with more than 30,000 different kinds of plants as well as a library which contains more than 750,000 volumes on botany, a collection of more than 175,000 drawings and prints of different plants and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Kew Royal Botanical Gardens are one of the United Kingdom’s biggest tourist attractions, drawing both UK residents on holiday as well as visitors from abroad – more than one million people visit the gardens annually to see its immense collection of plants in greenhouses as well as its beautifully landscaped grounds.

It’s a botanical garden like none other in the world, both inside and outside. However, it is the greenhouses which are no doubt the best known feature of the Royal Gardens at Kew.

The first greenhouse at Kew Gardens was built in 1844 and this greenhouse, the Palm House, is still one of the most spectacular structures at the gardens for its historic architecture alone; the greenhouse is made from hand-blown panes of glass and was at the time the first large scale structure to use wrought iron as a structural, rather than strictly as a decorative element.

The Palm House was followed by the Temperate House, which is roughly twice as large as the Palm House and is famous in its own right for being the largest still existent greenhouse from its era.

Other greenhouses (and other attractions) which have made the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens as famous as it is today include the Alpine House, a large arch-shaped greenhouse designed to house plants from mountainous, above the tree line climates, as the name suggests.

The Alpine House is a new addition to the gardens, having been built in 2006; it features innovations including automated shades and a air cooling system to keep these typically cooler weather plants at a temperature which allows them to thrive.

It’s both architecturally and technologically stunning, which makes it a must-see if you’ll be visiting the Royal Gardens.

The Princess of Wales’ Conservatory is another greenhouse at Kew which is justifiably famous.

The greenhouse was built in 1987 and opened by then Princess of Wales, Diana (although the greenhouse is actually named in honor of her predecessor, Princess Augusta).

This roughly 4,500 square foot greenhouse is home to numerous species of orchid, carnivorous plants and bromeliads, as well as cacti and other plants from both wet and dry tropical regions of the world.