Cambridge University Botanic Garden
A global garden in the middle of the city.
Botanic Garden
Address: 1 Brookside, Cambridge, CB2 1JE
Visitor centre opening hours: November - January: 10am–4pm, February, March + October: 10am–5pm, April – September: 10am–6pm
Entry prices: Gift Aid Adult: £5.50; Gift Aid Concession: £4.95
Parking: No
Toilets: Yes
Refreshments: Yes
A vast and varied Botanic Garden on a 40 acre site that will make you easily forget that you're in the middle of the city. There are 28 different areas to explore over winding paths, manicured lawns and tropical greenhouses.
Every plant and tree is labelled so budding gardeners can get inspiration for their own gardens, and many of the gardens have their own informal displays, such as the Chronological Bed, showing the introduction of the plants to Britain through a timeline.
The garden has been growing on its current site since the mid 1800s. Before then it had been a small herb garden on the New Museums site in the centre of the city that was used for medicinal studies.
Over many different sections the garden has a display that changes with the seasons, and an area on their site that lets you know which particular area is in bloom at the time of year that you visit.
And the garden is also a outdoors laboratory for the university, so you'lll often come across the odd experiment taking place along the walkways.
There's also a gift shop and cafe that serves light lunches and a picnic area that you can find on the map that's handed out at the entrance.
For more information visit the Cambridge University Botanic Garden website.
