LONDON, England (AP) – Cutting through the canopy some 60 feet high, Kew Gardens’ new XStrata Treetop Walkway gives nature-lovers a look at a part of the forest that’s seldom seen — a view from the top.

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, in west London, is hoping the soaring steel walkway will allow the public to experience the environment hidden just above its tree line.

"Retrospectively it was a leap of faith," curator Nigel Taylor said, describing the difficulty of erecting the 448-ton structure at the heart of an 18th century landscaped garden.

But he said the 220-yard circular walkway allowed visitors to "see a side of the forest that was completely invisible."

Project manager Tony Kirkham said the walkway was aimed at showcasing every part of the tree — from top to bottom. Entry is through an underground chamber where bronze-cast roots poke out of the concrete, animatronic insects buzz and squirm behind glass portholes, and a glowing mosaic (representing fungi) casts an uneven light.

"It’s meant to look like a factory," Kirkham said, "This is the engineering part of the tree."

Kirkham allowed that real roots would have been "pretty boring," but once at the top, the view is anything but.

The whole park stretches out from the various viewing platforms — on a clear day central London’s skyscrapers, some 11 miles away, are visible.

Sweet chestnuts and American red oaks crowd around the structure, branching out over and under the walkway, their leaves poking gingerly through the crosshatches as a sparrow hawk wheels lazily overhead.

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written by Andrew