Cambridge University Botanic Garden
A 16-hectare university garden, on its present site since 1831, with over 8,000 plant species and a lake.
The Cambridge University Botanic Garden lies between Trumpington Road, Bateman Street and Hills Road. It covers 16 hectares on level ground and holds more than 8,000 plant species used for teaching and research.
From town centre to Trumpington Road
Cambridge's first university botanic garden, the Walkerian Garden, was founded between 1760 and 1763 on the old Augustinian friary site in the town centre, now the New Museums Site. Richard Walker bought the land for £1,600 and gave it to the University, and Thomas Martyn laid it out as a physic garden. In 1825 John Stevens Henslow became professor of botany and decided that a bigger site further out was needed. The University bought the present land in 1831, and the first tree was planted there in 1846. Henslow, assisted by Cardale Babington, used an old gravel pit to make a lake and a mound running into it. Over the 1860s came a range of glasshouses and a rock garden, among the early examples of its kind.
Things to know
Two moments put the garden in the news. A cutting-grown "Flower of Kent" apple, grown from the tree linked with Isaac Newton's story of gravity, stood here from 1954 until Storm Eunice blew it down on 19 February 2022. On 25 July 2019 a temperature of 38.7 C was recorded in the garden, then the second-highest in the UK. The Sainsbury Laboratory, a plant science institute opened in 2011, stands within the grounds.
Practical notes
Same-day adult tickets cost £9.50 and advance online booking gives a 10% discount. Children aged 0 to 16, Cambridge University students and members of the Friends are admitted free. The garden's own site publishes the day's opening times, which were 10:00 to 17:00 when checked, and a seasonal programme of events including autumn's Apple Day. The Fitzwilliam Museum is also on Trumpington Street, and makes an easy pairing.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
