Inside one of Bristol’s best kept secrets offering an idyllic oasis of calm

Bristol is home to dozens of hidden gems scattered across the city waiting to be discovered by visitors.

BristolWorld has already put together a comprehensive list featuring 10 hiddens gems which even those who have lived in Brizzle all their lives may not be aware of - ranging from a nuclear bunker to a cosy cinema for two. But, this week, we decided to venture out to another one of Bristol’s best kept secrets, the University of Bristol’s Botanic Gardens.

Tucked away in Stoke Bishop, the garden was established in 1882 and offers a lovely day out to its guests with the chance to learn more about the hundreds of plants on the site.

Senior Botanical Horticulturalist, Andy Winfield told BristolWorld: “Effectively, the garden is a museum and the plants are the exhibits. We have a mission statement to ‘educate conservation and communicate’ so it’s about rekindling a relationship between the natural world and people, educating people on the role of plants because they are everything to us.

“They are all of our clothes, they make us better, they feed us - they literally give us the air that we breathe. They are a vital part of the planet and it’s important to convey that - a botanic garden is a part of the jigsaw puzzle.”

Several displays in the gardens detail the evolution of plant life with a prehistoric zone which is always popular with visiting children. There are also collections showcasing plants native to Bristol’s Avon Gorge that grow nowhere else in the world.

Volunteers maintain the garden throughout the year and were crowned with the prestigious Queen’s Award before the Covid pandemic, back in 2019.