I shared my top tips for a city break in Edinburgh last week, but there was one particular place which I loved so much – and which had me snapping away with my camera to such an extent – that I couldn’t resist dedicating a separate post to it: the Royal Botanic Garden.
I love visiting gardens like this – there’s something wonderfully calming about being surrounded by lush greenery, and I always feel any stress melting away. I tend to make a beeline for them wherever I travel, and past favourites have included Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Lund. But Edinburgh’s is definitely one of the best I’ve been to so far.
The current garden opened in 1820 but its history stretches all the way back to 1670, when doctors Robert Sibbald and Andrew Balfour leased a small plot of land in Holyrood Park and set about creating Edinburgh’s first ‘physic garden’. The collection of plants grew steadily, and it was relocated to a green-field site further out of the city in 1763, before moving again in the early 19th century.
Today, the garden encompasses 116 hectares and more than 13,500 different plant species. There’s an arboretum, a rock garden, a woodland garden, a rhododendron garden and a Chinese hillside garden, but it was the cluster of glasshouses that held the most appeal for me. There are 10 in total and each is dedicated to a different climatic zone, covering everything from arid deserts to steamy rainforests.
Perhaps most beautiful is the tropical palm house, which was built in 1834 and has the garden’s oldest palm – a towering tree moved from the previous site – at its centre. I also loved the fern house, with its intricate fronds and fossil-like trunks, and the ‘Plants & People’ house, where jewel-coloured fish dart around an inky pond studded with giant lilypads.
We spent hours wandering around, breathing in the deep, herby scent of foliage and damp earth, and marvelling at the incredible diversity of the natural world. The low winter sunshine filtering through the glass created pools of golden light, illuminating droplets of water on petals and leaves, and we felt as if we were in a little green bubble, a world away from city hustle and bustle.
I’m not going to say any more as I want to let the photos speak for themselves, but the garden really is a must-visit on any trip to Edinburgh. Do go if you get the chance, and make sure you give yourself plenty of time to take it all in – there’s a lot to see!
Find the Royal Botanic Garden at Arboretum Place, Edinburgh EH3 5NZ. The grounds are free to enter, but there’s a small charge to visit the glasshouses.
All photography by Abi Dare
Thanks for the tip. We’re going to Edinburgh in the spring and we didn’t know these beautiful gardens existed, but now we’ll make a point of going to see them.
Lovely photos, too!
Thanks! They’re definitely worth a visit – and make sure you give yourself a good few hours to take them all in.