If you’re looking for something calm and peaceful to do whilst in Bristol then I recommend a visit to Bristol Botanical Gardens. Here are my photos from our recent trip and my review.
Me and Bella recently had a weekend in Bristol, staying in an Airbnb with our friends. We had a really quirky flat in Clifton and whilst driving there, we passed a sign for a botanical garden and Bella said she’s like to visit. So the next day we headed to Bristol Botanical Gardens which is in Clifton and was a short walk from our Airbnb.
It’s around a 40-minute walk from Bristol city centre, which we walked afterwards as it was such a nice day. Or if you’re staying more central and don’t fancy the walk, there are plenty of buses and taxis that can take you from the city centre to Clifton. We got a taxi on the second day for around £10.I’ve been to Bristol numerous times, but I never knew they had a botanical garden! We didn’t even get to see the whole thing as we spent a long time outside wandering around, then had a snack and drink at the cafe. Then we were leaving and realised we’d completely forgotten they have some large greenhouses where they grow more tropical plants. Doh!
So we didn’t go in the greenhouses, but that’s something for another trip to Bristol and a reason to go back!
I also didn’t take many photos, but there were so many beautiful flowers, especially a large selection of peonies. So taking more photos next time is something I must also do! Luckily it was a really sunny day! This obviously made walking around outdoor gardens a lot more enjoyable 🙂I just love the shape and pattern of these leaves at the end of the branch. They were super soft and velvet to touch.Lots of bamboo and paths through the outdoor gardens for exploring. It was reasonably quiet, so lovely and calming.This beautiful pink peony was as large as Bella’s head!So stunning!Pretty in white too.Some sort of umbrella art installation? Or a clever way to shade the plants?!There weren’t really any sculptures here, which is perhaps something they could add for more interest, but there was this dinosaur in amongst the monkey puzzle trees!
Fun fact: there are over 70 insects that ONLY live on a monkey puzzle tree. Always makes me wonder how they get to the tree if they don’t live anywhere else?! Where do they come from?I loved the overgrown palm and monkey puzzle tree section with felled tree trunks. It almost felt like being somewhere else.Rather tropical and even jungle like!My favourite patch of the gardens.There are a couple of large ponds to spot wildlife.Perhaps a work in progress as we couldn’t go inside the hut. Or storage?!Lovely blooms all around.Bella had disappeared running through the garden paths, but I wanted to get a photo of her on this bench as it was ginormous! Like a picnic bench for a giant! Kind of how you get giant chairs, but this was a wooden picnic bench version.
Bristol Botanic Garden Greenhouses
As you can see, I didn’t get a great deal of photos and it was a shame we missed the greenhouses which I think would be quite a highlight from checking out their Instagram tags! Here’s a sneak peek at some amazing Instagram photos from the greenhouses:
