The botanical gardens are a series of gardens containing plants from all over the world, situated near the centre of Sheffield. It is about a mile away from the city centre and there are signs giving directions to it. There are three entrances on Clarkehouse, Botanical and Thompson road. This Google map shows the surrounding area.
Walking from the city centre I travelled down Glossop road, before turning onto Clarkehouse road. The main entrance was on the left as I walked down it.
The whole of the gardens are easily accessible. There are some stairs around them, but these can be avoided, so there are no parts which can’t be reached by wheel chair users. The gardens lie on a slope but walking from one end to the other isn’t at all difficult.
The first area I came to was the Rose and Water garden. This is a small pond fed by a long waterfall. There is a bridge going over the pond and a number of plants around it.
Other areas include:
- North American Prairie Garden – include 30 species of grasses that once covered North America.
- The Award of Garden Merit border – Plants that have won the award of Garden Merit.
- The Asia Garden – damp beds used for plants from China, Japan, the Himalayas and Korea.
- The Rosarium – This garden is laid out so as to show the history of the Rose.
- The Marnock Garden – A sheltered garden showing a variety of plants suitable for small gardens.
One area to visit is the bear pit. This rather spartan enclosure, which more closely resembles a medieval dungeon than an animal enclosure was once home to a live bear. Now, though, it just houses a statue, who doesn’t seem to mind the accommodation.
There is a number of species of birds including Magpies and Pigeons and a bird which I haven’t been able to identify. It’s pictured to the left and if anyone knows what it is I’d be very grateful if you left a comment with the name.
There was also a number of grey squirrels running round the gardens. Some of them seemed quite shy round people, while others didn’t seem to bothered by my presence, perhaps hoping I was going to feed them.
Dotted round the gardens are a series of riddles which you are supposed to follow round the gardens. I only found a couple of them and wasn’t able to figure out what those ones meant. So it’s possible I missed out on the best part of the gardens.
There is a gift shop and cafe near the Clarkehouse road entrance. The gift shop contained guide books as well as usual things for this type of shop such as book marks, pencils and the all important fridge magnets.
It was quite interesting spending a couple of hours wandering round the different gardens. I don’t think I saw it at its best and would like to go again during the summer. Also there was a couple of sections that I missed, so I’ll definitely be going again next year.
More pictures can be found here
Posted by msparshatt 
