Leisurely pace of life in the Florida Keys

Spending time here in the Florida Keys has made me realise how the great names synonymous with Key West - Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Jimmy Buffett and Harry S. Truman - came here by chance and ended up staying. This is a little paradise at the end of the world ... but it certainly has some of the best Florida vegetation I've seen and when you walk around the streets, you can peek into all the little green landscapes here.

Land is at a premium here in Key West, but everywhere you go the vegetation and the gardens, whether private or public are filled with flowers, palms and exotic fruit. It's a real Garden of Eden and there are three wonderful gardens within walking distance of each other right here in the town - the Audubon House (above), Ernest Hemingway's former home and Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden. I'll be reviewing all three in the next few days, together with the Butterfly House and the world's first botanical garden that you can actually stay in!

We've sampled some fine food and stayed in a couple of wonderful hotels on this trip - all will become clear in my next few blog entries. And we're staying in a real gem of a hotel that qualifies for a mention as a garden to visit in its own right, so more of that too in future postings. You'll see that I've added a Places to Stay tab to the Pages section of this blog, where I'll be featuring properties that make the grade - and this one is definitely on the list!

Plant life on a scale you wouldn't believe given the limited space - look up and you'll see epiphytes and orchids everywhere (above) and of course, the Key West sunsets are legendary. But with just one more day here, I have more gardens to see, so more later ...