Kew Gardens: A year on film

By Pia Harold
BBC News

Kew Gardens month by month

The BBC and Kew Gardens have joined forces to create a timelapse video of a year at the botanical gardens.

The project is the brainchild of the editor of the Ten O'Clock News, who wanted a way to illustrate stories about the changing seasons.

"It was over the Christmas holidays and there was a great rush to get it sorted in time," Craig Oliver said.

"It doesn't prove there is global warming, but it's a useful device."

Snow failure

Alan often visits the Pagoda to test the equipment

Location engineer Alan Murdey worked out what equipment was needed and rigged it up in the Pagoda by late January.

The set-up has only failed a couple of times - and one of those times was when the snow came down.

"We recovered it that day and got the snow melting away, but it was a real disappointment," said Mr Murdey.

Of an era

He thought it could have failed because of power outages - although he had set up a back-up supply which was meant to kick in if there was a cut.

Kew's historic Pagoda was chosen for various reasons.

"It was an indoor location, and it offered us light," Mr Murdey said.

"The shot had a range of foliage in it. We had deciduous trees and quite nice blossom in the spring time."

Kew's historic Pagoda is nearly 50 metres high

The Pagoda is closed to the public, meaning the camera cannot be jogged, but it was not always that way.

Nearly 50 metres in height, it was completed in 1762 as a surprise for Princess Augusta, the Dowager Princess of Wales and mother of "mad" King George III.

Oriental art and architecture was in vogue at the time and this was the tallest building of its kind in Europe, though to be a more precise replica it would have had an odd number of storeys (it has 10 floors).

There was a brief period in the 1870s when the public could climb the 253 steps to the top of the Pagoda, and more recently they invited up again in 2006 on special tours.

It was not universally popular when it was first built, but it seems to have grown into its surroundings with time.

And this is not the first time it has been put to a more practical use. During World War II, scientists would test the aerodynamics of their bombs, by dropping replicas from the top floor.