The main lake seen across the vertical bronze bars of the Sackler Crossing. This crossing was installed in 2006 and is the first ever bridge across the lake.

This bridge gives access to areas seldom visited around the Japanese Minka House and Bamboo Garden. These attractions have often been neglected by visitors in the past but, thanks to the crossing, are now more easily accessible.

A small corner of the Bamboo Garden. Created in 1891, this garden originally contained 40 species of bamboo, primarily from Japan. There are now approx 1,200 bamboo species from China, Japan, the Himalayas and Americas, making it one of the largest collections in the UK.

A Japanese Minka House. A traditional Japanese farmhouse, the Minka House was donated to Kew in 2001 and sits in the Bamboo Garden.

The house has a frame of pine logs tied together with rope, wattle and daub walls and a lime-washed exterior. It stands on a base of large stones to allow it to move in the event of an earthquake but I don't think that there'll be many of those in Kew.

Queen Charlotte's Cottage was built as a one-storey building between 1754-1771 in the grounds of Richmond Lodge (which now form the western half of Kew). It is an early example of a cottage orne, a rustic cottage built as a country retreat, but not as a residence.

In August 1774, the London Magazine described the cottage as a "pretty retreat" but when the building acquired an extension and its 1st floor 'picnic room' is not clear, but evidence points to the mid to late1770s.