For a few precious frost-nipped weeks, these museum-piece cities of Olde World Europe flicker back to the Middle Ages -- not the ossified medieval throwbacks of soot-blackened cathedrals and tourist-bedeviled museums, but the living, breathing yesteryear of a bustling outdoor marketplace.

CNN: European Christmas markets rich with history

As well as a tourist attraction, Kew is a world famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its living collection of plants and scientific facilities.

BBC: Kew is newest 'world wonder'