A children's leaflet is available with facts, quotes and activities. The greatest concentration of sculptures is in the Princess of Wales observatory and in the Temperate House, where you can view them from above on the high walkway. Kew is already a great place to hang out with kids and even better with this extra diversion. Something for children Chihuly's work is very child-friendly; lots of bright colours and youthful shapes - balls, spears and multiple squiggles. Enter the gardens by Victoria Gate to be immediately confronted by two "flaming brands" outside the Palm House, a lively scattering of coloured glass floats on the pond, and a boat that looks as though all the wrapping paper, sweets, and decorations from a party have been artfully piled into it My son was delighted. In the glasshouses, some of the sculptures are camouflaged or extremely plant-like, so we had great fun playing "hunt the glass". Deliberately echoing natural shapes, his vibrantly coloured structures range from simple "reeds" to wild masses of up to 1,000 pieces - sometimes melding with the plants, sometimes standing out dramatically. The venue Kew - with its 132 hectares (326 acres) of gardens, millions of different plants and its iconic glasshouses - is a perfect setting for the American artist Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures, which are on display across the gardens until January.

A seven-day trip, including return flights, and B&B accommodation in Tallinn and Haapsalu and car hire cost from £455 per person, based on two sharing. Aivar Ruutel (00 372 561 896; email: info soomaa ) hires out canoes, and offers guided tours of Soomaa, from around £12 per person.Further informationEstonian Embassy (020-7589 3428). Go to and . Estonia, which looks towards the economic powerhouses of Finland and Sweden, is ahead of the game.GIVE ME THE FACTSHow to get thereRegent Holidays (0117-921 1711; ) offers tailor-made packages to Estonia. Vardzia is also a monastery, whose frescoed chapels are attended by monks. Father Giorgi, who shows me round, is a bushy-bearded, pink-cheeked 22-year-old who'd look more at home in a bikers' bar, but who tells me solemnly that he's opted for this wineless and womanless steadfastness to give his countrymen the support of prayer.All this was in a journey through only one of Georgia's provinces: comparable delights are to be found in Kakheti to the east, where the mountain monastery of David Garreja looks out over the Azerbaijan plain. The high Caucasus in the north is idyllic, but currently out of bounds because of Chechen terrorism.In Tbilisi you sense a country sparking back into life: in the clubs and restaurants along the river, in the shops and markets and even in the flash new hotels bought with oil money - but above all in the music.

The museum tells the dramatic history of the town, from its domination by the Swedes and the Russians to the heyday of the 19th century.Those times are clearly returning to Estonia. Much of eastern Europe's appeal as a tourist destination is the fascination of watching these evolving countries shed the lingering vestiges of Communism. In the Rondo caf?we ate pancakes with cream and ham against a backdrop of 1970s wallpaper.The 13th-century castle and cathedral, joined at the hip in leafy grounds a short walk from the shore, are gems of the kind that the unexplored outposts of eastern Europe have a habit of throwing up. You can learn more about the town's turbulent history at its museum, where I met probably Estonia's most enthusiastic curator, who made it clear that she had not been able to speak her mind in public during the Communist era, and was now making up for it. The bench is by a neurological hospital, whose patients enjoy its restful charms. The idea deserves to catch on.Haapsalu is full of wooden houses, little museums and sleepy coffee shops. Thousands of birds aquaplane on to the water, swans paddle by the reedbeds, flanking their cygnets.Tchaikovsky was among those who took the air in Haapsalu.