A Trip To Kew (With Sue)

 Well the meta data on the photos from this day, say July 29th 2011. Which was a Friday. I had made plans to travel up to London by train, to meet up with my good friend and fellow blogger, Sue Richmond who writes 'Sue's News And Views'. We had arranged to meet up and spend the day at Kew Gardens in the West of the capital.  Sue was living in Twickenham back then, within walking distance of Kew and we were both Friends Of Kew, so it was ideal for us both.

I had planned a busy week on the T front. I intended to dress on the preceeding Saturday at home, and then attend the T Girlfriends Get Together meeting with my trans woman friend Chrissie Goulden on the Wednesday evening and then meet up with Sue at Kew on the Friday.  However, the best laid plans and all that! On the Saturday I had woken up feeling under the weather, so didn't feel like dressing at all. And by Sunday I was suffering from a nasty Summer cold. I was still feeling poorly on Wednesday morning, so I informed Chrissie that I wouldn't be going out that night. I really didn't expect to be able to meet Sue on Friday,  so I gave her the heads up that I might not be able to make it, and would decide on Thursday evening. As Wednesday wore on, I began to feel much better and by Thursday morning I felt fine. So Friday was definitely on.

Friday was a beautiful sunny morning. The perfect day for a picnic in a beautiful garden. I had bought a lovely summery dress for my trips out that week and I was glad that I would get the chance to wear it on one of the planned days. I wore it with Wolford Neon 40 glossy tights, which were perhaps a little heavy for the weather, but I wanted to hide the psoriasis on my left shiny, which I was rather self conscious about. I wore a pair of comfortable black clogs. 

My Wife knew I was going out, which was fine with her because she was working a late shift. We had a rule that she never saw me dressed, so she stayed in bed while I got myself washed  dressed and made up. Then I left the house to walk to Romsey railway station which was half a mile away.  By the time I expected to get home, at around 7pm my Wife would still be at work, so I would have plenty of time to change back to drab before she got home at 9pm.

I hadn't told any of my neighbours about my dressing. I tend to keep it private. If someone finds out, then fine, but I'm not going to tell anyone who doesn't need to now. I left the house and walked up the road,  just as I turned the corner, my next door neighbours, Pete and Daphne, were driving past in their car. I almost forgot myself and waved, but then remembered, just keep looking ahead. Thinking back, I'm sure they knew about Deeanna. I never told them, and I never actually had a face to face encounter with them, but I had been out and about a few times, and also dressed in the back garden, and all it would take was for them to glance out of a bedroom window and see me. So it was a slightly nervous moment, but not too bad.

I caught the train to Southampton and had a light breakfast in a cafe on the platform, before boarding a train to London. The journey to Clapham Common was fairly uneventful. The train wasn't too busy, and I got a seat by myself. I just enjoyed looking out of the window at the scenery. And I got a little thrill each time we went under a bridge and I caught my reflection in the window.  It was always such a thrill to just be out doing feminine things in public. 

When I got to Clapham Common, I found a toilet, to powder my nose and then caught the train to Richmond, where I transferred to the District Line and rode one stop to Kew Gardens. From there it was just a short walk to the main entrance of the gardens, where I'd arranged to meet Sue. 

I enjoyed the short walk to the garden. It's so lovely to just be out in the world dressed and acting as I prefer to be. I looked in some of the shop windows near the station as I slowly made my way towards Kew, savouring every moment of my femininity. 

As I neared the entrance to the gardens I could see Sue waiting for me. She was carrying a bag containing a picnic, which she had kindly put together for us to enjoy. 

We warmly embraced and made our way through the entrance. There were no issues with either of us presenting as femme, but using membership cards in our male names. 

Kew Gardens is a beautiful peaceful place. A botanical garden with beautiful trees and flower borders. And some fabulous glasshouses containing some wonderful tropical plants. The only thing that disturbs the peace is the low flying airliners heading into Heathrow Airport which is just a few miles away. And after a while you just don't seem to notice them.

One thing I had noticed in recent visits was the large numbers of green parakeets which now made the gardens their home. They are quite noisy and there seems to be more of them each time I visit the gardens.

Given that we were both en femme and wearing full make up, and it was a warm day, we decided not to go into the glasshouses which are incredibly warm and humid, and we just enjoyed walking around the gardens, chatting to each other. 

Sue is great company and so easy to talk to, so the conversation flowed nicely.  We just ambled down various paths enjoying being out and enjoying being girls. It's just the most wonderful feeling in the world. 

As we walked along a path through the trees, Sue stopped to show me the 'Tranny Tree'. It's a Maiden Hair tree. These trees are single sexed,  with male and female trees. Years ago, this tree suffered some disease and to save it's health and appearance, it had a new section from another Maiden Hair, grafted on. But they made a mistake and grafted parts from a female tree onto the male original. So this was the only example in the world of a Maiden Hair tree with both male and female flowers on it.

A T girl posing next to a T tree

We found a nice bench with a lovely view, to sit and eat our picnic, which Sue had brought with her. It was a wonderful spread that we both enjoyed. I felt incredibly relaxed and so happy   and I'm sure Sue felt the same. 

For me, the only times that I feel totally calm and relaxed are when I'm dressed en femme as Deeanna, when I'm listening to music or when I'm fishing, and so a day spent as Deeanna out in such a beautiful place was so good for my soul.

I have always loved the Marianne North Gallery which sits in the grounds of Kew Gardens, so we headed there after our picnic. Marianne was a botanical artist in the 19th century, who painted some wonderful pictures of plants, most of which are displayed on the walls of this wonderful gallery.  They are so beautiful and vibrant and to see them covering the walls is just beautiful. I find it to be a very calm and quiet space. I've visited it many times, and I've always had it to myself when I'm in there. And apart from Sue, yet again there was no one else in there. It's definitely one of my happy spaces. 

The Marianne North Gallery *

After the gallery, we headed back out into the sun, and walked to the Chinese Pagoda which towers above the southern end of the garden. It's a wonderful building that looks like it's come straight from China. These days, you can go in and climb to the top, but back then you couldn't. And I'm not sure we would have wanted to, given we were in our feminine finery and the hot weather. 

The Chinese Pagoda *

It's just a short walk from the Pagoda, to the Japanese Landscape Garden. I love Japanese gardens and I always enjoy visiting this one at Kew. We didn't have a tripod with us, so we took an opportunity to place my camera on the fence and took the only photo of myself with Sue on the day. 

Myself and Sue at the Japanese Landscape Garden 

The Japanese Landscape Garden *

Next we took a leisurely stroll back through the gardens, towards the Palm House. This is the most well known and iconic building at Kew Gardens. It contains a large number of large exotic and tropical plants. It was too warm to contemplate going in, so we settled for photos outside. 

In Front Of The Palm House

By now it was getting to late afternoon and it would soon be time for me to start my journey home. We walked a little more, and then we hugged at the exit gate, and I headed back to the station. I was elated after a wonderful day out, en femme with a dear friend. 

I was a little tired after a day walking around the gardens and I was looking forward to getting home. But unfortunately I had a journey home that can only be described as arduous. 

The tube journey from Kew to Richmond was fine, but the journey from Richmond to Clapham was awful.  A car hit the level crossing at Barnes and we were stuck for an hour while it was sorted. It was hot, sweaty and horrible on the train. The only upside was I had a very nice and positive conversation with a woman who was very supportive of trans folk. 

Things didn't get better when I got on the train to Southampton. It was very crowded and I was forced to stand in the space by the doors at the end of the carriage, near the toilet. By now my feet and legs were aching. It didn't help when someone used the toilet for a poo, and the flush wouldn't work. Soon the whole space smelt disgusting. 

I couldn't face being on the train for longer than I had to, and I really didn't want to have to transfer to another train before I got home. Also I had a dilemma. I wasn't going to get home before my Wife returned from work. So that would cause a huge row if I turned up as Deeanna. Then I had an idea. At work I had a sports holdall containing a set of running gear, ready for when I went straight from work to my running club. 

I decided to get off the train a couple of stops early at Eastleigh and take a taxi across to Romsey, where I both lived and worked. I was so relieved to be off the hot, smelly train. The taxi ride was only 20 minutes. I got dropped off at work. Thankfully I had a key and alarm for work on me, so I could go in, change into my running kit and remove my make-up and then walk home, with Deeanna packed safely away in my holdall. 

My Wife had been worrying that I was going to return home dressed as a woman, so she was relieved when I came through the door in my sports kit as a guy. Of course I told her it was a carefully prepared contingency plan.

I was relieved to have got back home ok. And although the homeward journey was horrendous. But it definitely didn't take the gloss of what had been a wonderful day, spent dressed with a good friend. 

It's a day I look back with very happy memories. I haven't been able to meet up with Sue in person, since then, but we are still close friends and I am sure we will be able to meet again one day.

*Photographs copyright ©️ RBG Kew