In pictures: Twilight with the Museums brings visitors to Cambridge University Botanic Garden
Visitors to Cambridge University Botanic Garden saw the popular site in a completely different – and brighter – light last week. The glasshouse adventure trail was held from February 11-19 as part of the annual Twilight with the
Museums event, where University of Cambridge museums are open to the public after hours.
Taking place after dark, people of all ages journeyed through dry deserts, freezing alpine conditions and lush tropical rainforests while on the hunt for weird and wonderful plants.
Anna Patterson Lee, head of development and communications at the Botanic Garden, said: “Twilight is a really lovely event where the garden and the museums are open late at night for families to come along and explore, often in the dark or with a torch or, in the case of the Botanic Garden, with the glasshouses all specially lit up. This year we were really happy to be able to have it in person in the garden again for the first time since 2020.”
Children visited the garden, as part of Twilight, after dark last Wednesday (February 15). “They were given a special little trail to go round the glasshouses and specific plants were highlighted within those trails,” explained Anna.
“So they found out about these particularly interesting and unique plants – and there were volunteers there on the night to tell them a little bit more about these specific plants and why they were so interesting, or why they were endangered.”
Making full use of the beautiful illuminations, more events were held at the garden during the week, unrelated to Twilight with the Museums. “On Thursday night, we had a craft beer evening,” said Anna, “and then on Friday we had a private event.”
She added: “The trail was there all week but the special night was Wednesday when we were open late for families to come and explore in the dark. It’s always lovely to have families exploring the world of plants.”
[Read more: Twilight with the Museums in Cambridge: Our pick of the highlights for February half-term 2023, Cambridge’s new record temperature is confirmed at Botanic Garden]
Meanwhile, over at the Museum of Classical Archaeology, visitors were able to walk among the gods and heroes in one of the largest surviving collections of plaster casts of Greek and Roman statues in the world.
The lights were turned down low in the museum’s Cast Gallery on Thursday (February 16) as Hades, the Underworld of ancient Greece, was recreated for Enter the Underworld: A Twilight Event.
Many other museums also took part in the half-term fun, including the Fitzwilliam, the Museum of Zoology, the Whipple, the Polar Museum and Kettle’s Yard.
