Things to do in Bristol : Botanic Garden
Stokes Park Road, Stokes Bishop, Bristol, BS9 1JG
Various tours and talks available for more information
Opening hours : June to October Everyday 10am to 4.30pm November to March Weekdays 10am to 4pm .
How did I not even know that Bristol had a botanic garden. I had lived in Bristol for 16 years before I visited, it is mad to think you have things like this on your doorstep and never know about them
I am gad that I now know about Bristol Botanic garden and when someone asks me what to do in Bristol I often say visit the Botanic Garden and like me they say they didn’t even know there was one.
I was invited to attend the bee pollination exhibition, a great event I learnt so much about bees and how to protect them.
If you get chance to visit the botanic garden in Bristol during the bee pollination exhibition you will have a great time but i think it will be an interesting place to visit all year round.
During my visit at Bristol Botanic garden there were lots. of different activities including stalls selling honey based items, information points about bees and of course the tour of the gardens which was really fascinating. I have visited Botanic gardens around the word and love the fact there is one in my home town of Bristol.
There was honey tasting for 50p I don’t actually like honey but one of our bloggers Liska from newmumonline tried a few and enjoyed them I was more interested in tasting the cider that was on offer. Not made from honey but I’m still happy to test it, although it was flat and not to my liking.
My friend tasted honey from Somerset and South Africa, I only went as far as smelling them and they did all smell different apparently the smell, taste and colour is dependant on the flowers the bees have been visiting.
There was lots of information about bees as they were the stars of the show. We visited the bee hives, saws so many bees pollinating the flowers and in the marquee was a display of bees in a glass case so you could see them working hard making their honey.
There was a tube coming out of the casing going to the outside of the marquee which is how the bees were getting in and out.
They had vegetables on sale and I had to buy an onion that was nearly as big as my head, I forgot to take some money so only had 70p otherwise I would have bought so many more of the goodies they had on offer.
We had a go at willow weaving. The twigs are soaked for 1 day per foot so most of these twigs had been soaking for 6 days to make them more flexible. People were making bees, hearts or circles and got to take them home with them.
Bristol Botanic Gardens
The gardens are very educational with information. We were given a tour of the gardens by Tony who was very informative. After our tour we enjoyed a complimentary cup of tea and cake.
I had a delicious cinnamon bun in the café which is where the top military brass gathered in 1944 to plan the Normandy landings (thank you to Heather Cowper from heatheronhertravels for sharing this fact as I didn’t know this) Refreshments available in the Devers Room open every day 4th June to 2nd October 10.45 to 4.15pm. check there website for opening times.
I found the ballast seed garden interesting it explained how when the ships came in to dock and the cargo was emptied they often contained seeds from the countries they had come from which then began to germinate so that’s how Bristol started to see more exotic plants.
Chinese garden has medicinal plants and explained how the plants could treat different parts of the body. China has over 32,000 plant species with around 3000 of these being used in Chinese medicine.
The house on the grounds is beautiful and is now student accommodation their very lucky students as I would love to live there.
Glasshouses at Bristol botanic garden
Coming into these glasshouses was like being back in the Caribbean with the humidity and the cocoa beans and coffee plants it brought back great memories but I was glad to get back out into the fresh air. I like hot weather but more when I have a beach to relax on not inside a large glass house.
You can join the Friends of the university of Bristol Botanic garden which is a registered charity to support the gardens and its work
Thank you to the Bristol Botanic Gardens for hosting our group visit these gardens. My opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.
I visited the botanic gardens in 2016 but I have updated this article in 2019 as it is still a place I recommend when people ask me what to do in Bristol.
Have you been to the Botanic Gardens in Bristol what did you think?
