Cambridge University Botanic Garden

On my latest trip up to see family in Cambridge, I took advantage of an extra cheap, extra early train ticket to make the most of the day trip. I arrived with a couple of hours to kill before meeting my family and as all of the museums were shut I decided to have a look around the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. It's a little further out from the main town, so I'd never ventured there before, and didn't know what to expect given the chilly early-March weather - but I was rewarded with the most beautiful blossom trees! The gardens opened in 1846 after moving from a smaller site in the centre of the city, and the original teak structure of the Temperate House has recently been restored - you won't see another glass house like it, as it's the last of its kind in the UK. The tropical rainforest glass house is particularly beautiful, especially with the bizarre strongylodon macrobotrys (jade vine) which flowers in spring. I was intrigued to find a little cubby hole for reference books within the glass houses (though it's now sadly empty). Outside, there's forty acres to explore, from rock gardens and roses to plants in bogs or flowers for bees. 

FIND THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY BOTANIC GARDEN AT: 1 Brookside, Cambridge CB2 1JE