Botany blooms between the office blocks
The bustle of Cambridge and university life is all around but that’s part of the garden’s charm.
You can lose yourself in its academically-inspired borders, sheltered lake and varied glasshouse rooms and enjoy the fact that a glass-fronted office block is peeking in between the mature trees.
The garden is large enough to lose the thrum of traffic, with a lake half lost in trees and partly bordered by a mazy rock-garden as its centrepiece.
The heritage greenhouses display flora from different climatic zones. A small stream winds between boggy planting and leads to a series of Bee Borders. There are wild flower and grass meadows.
The current site dates from 1846 but it feels modern and always evolving. The best bit: Cambridge is all around you but a world away.
Star Plants
Balls of tiny stars
One metre high these lollipops of purple light up a border when planted in profusion or small groups
Spears of violet blue
They fire up between one to one-and-a-half metres high but don’t get in the way of their neighbours
Autumn crocus
Not strictly a crocus, it flowers in September with bright yellow flowers on contrasting dark green foliage
Bi-colour bearded iris
Purple bearded iris were one of stars of the garden’s café planting when it was last revamped
Reasons to go
- Botany is always to the fore; many of the beds have an educational theme
- …but this rarely detracts from the sheer garden spectacle
- Deliberate variety in the planting to give as many species space as possible
- Impressive mature trees keep Cambridge out
- A small shop, and a wonderfully-situated café
- Season of interest is always enhanced by the displays in the large glasshouses
In a nutshell
- Time to allow: 3+ hours for its 16 hectares
- Favourite area: the perennial and grasses planting around the café – always evolving
- Best for: always nudging you towards the history and science of gardening
- Run by: University of Cambridge
- Unusual for: 8,000+ species and mature trees
- Good points: variety of habitats on show; glasshouses take you to exotic places
- Bad points: the new viewing platform seems like money poorly spent
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