How to hike from Valbona to Theth
May 8, 2024
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Albania | Our guide to hiking from Valbona to Theth; two beautiful traditional villages lying deep in the Albanian Alps
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Birmingham, the UK’s second city, has more than 8,000 acres of award-winning green spaces and parks – more than any other European city. Surprising for a place with an outdated stereotype of being dull and full of brutalist architecture, right?
Fitting then, that it is also home to one of the UK’s oldest and most eye-catching Botanical Gardens. Read on to discover why you should include a visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on any UK travel itinerary.
As of September 2023, the ticket prices for the Birmingham Botanical Gardens are below:
Ticket | Price with Gift Aid | Price without Gift Aid |
Family* | £23.65 | £21.50 |
Adult | £8.25 | £7.50 |
Student & Senior 65+ | £7.25 | £6.50 |
Child (Aged 4 & Under) | Free |
*A family ticket consists of two adults and up to three children.
As the seasons change and the days get shorter, the opening times for the Botanical Gardens alter. Below are the times currently scheduled up to Friday 24th May 2024. Please check according to the date you plan to visit:
4th September to 5th November 2023: 10:00am until 17:00pm on weekdays and weekends.
6th November to 9th February 2023: 11:00am until 16:00pm on weekdays and weekends.
10th February to 24th May 2023: 10:00am until 17:00pm on weekdays and weekends.
Although a decent-sized car park, parking at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens is limited, especially on weekends.
It is available on a first-come, first-served basis with the following fees:
For those paying like ourselves, you do so at the machine in reception which operates Automatic Number Plate Recognition.
The address for the Botanical Gardens is Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3TR.
There are multiple ways to get to the Botanical Gardens via public transport.
Bus
You can catch the bus (or buzz as pronounced by Brummies) from outside Birmingham New Street train station or other stops in the city centre. The 23, 24, 1, X8, 9, X10, 12, 12A, 13, 13A, 13B, X21 and 126 all stop either outside or near the gardens.
Tram
Birmingham’s brilliant tram network is expanding, taking you from the centre to various parts of the city and even over to Wolverhampton. To reach the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, catch the Edgbaston Village Tram to the last stop which is located just past the Morrisons Supermarket on Hagley Road. From here, it is circa 10 minutes walk to the gardens.
Train
Travel to the gardens from Birmingham New Street; a thriving train station in the centre of the city that has direct access to the BullRing and Grand Central shopping centres respectively. Catch the five-minute train to Five Ways Station, before enjoying a 20-minute stroll to the gardens.
Located in the heart of Edgbaston, an affluent suburb home to the historic University of Birmingham and Edgbaston Cricket Ground, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens has a proud history itself.
Founded in 1829, it is home to over 7,000 species of plants and a wonderful aviary. The gardens are a popular tourist attraction in the city, offering a visual spectacle of colour all year round.
One thing that strikes me when visiting the Botanical Gardens is how it has been a constant presence in a rapidly changing world. Amidst the hustle and bustle of modern-day Birmingham, it is hard to imagine this was Holly Bank Farm just 200 years ago. How fast urbanisation occurs!
Designed by J.C Loudon, the top landscape designer of his day, the gardens opened to society members on 11th June 1832. To date, the layout of the grounds remains largely faithful to Loudon’s original design.
The history of the gardens is tangible, giving a feeling of travelling back in time. The beautiful Victorian glasshouses are remarkable and the wonderful bandstand – built in 1873 – still holds concerts on Sundays.
There is so much to explore across the garden’s 15-acre grounds, walking down pleasant pathways surrounded by stunning plants from all corners of the planet.
An eye-catching location within the gardens, the aviary is a stunning structure. Home to a menagerie of exotic, vibrant birds, it consists of four quadrants.
We instantly loved the Quaker Parakeets; an energetic group of chirpy, colourful birds socialising and undergoing their daily lives.
Two canoodled on the roof of their house for the whole time we were there, while another was pre-occupied building a fresh nest from sticks. Flashes of sky blue and lime green whizzed past as they flitted around the aviary.
Other birds included the fantastic Peach Faced Lovebirds (native to South-West Africa), beautiful Azure-Winged Magpies and the playful cockatoos.
Ah, the butterfly house. I loved it. Emily hated it (she doesn’t like Butterflies so didn’t come in to be fair). Found in the far left-corner of the gardens, the butterfly house is home to some truly remarkable creatures.
Huge, colourful butterflies fly freely around the house, with many originating from global locations including Africa, Central America and the Philippines. Species include the Great Mormon butterfly and the Black Swallowtail butterfly.
For those who enjoy getting up close with these wonderful creatures, the feeding stations offer a superb opportunity to study their fragile frames and vibrant colours. I was even lucky enough to have a stunning yellow one land on my shoulder, where it was perfectly happy to stay for a while as I looked around.
If you love photography, be sure to take your camera to capture the incredible colours and patterns.
We were lucky to make the last day of this year’s butterfly house, as it runs throughout the summer. You can generally visit between late May and the first Sunday of September.
The reason the Birmingham Botanical Gardens is one of the UK’s premier destinations for botany is the sheer number of exotic plants that can’t be found anywhere else in the country. The gardens have four glasshouses, with each home to an incredible array of unusual and interesting plants.
The Tropical House was built in 1851 and contains remarkable species from around the world, including the Amazon rainforest. There’s even a beautiful pool with a picturesque bridge, where you can see the Koi Carp swimming gracefully below.
Next up is the Subtropical House; the second oldest glasshouse having been built in 1871. For a number of reasons, I think this one is pretty cool. First, it is home to the Dicksonia x Lathami tree – the only one in the world. Fancy that, in Birmingham!
Raised by the garden’s curator in 1873, it is a hybrid plant between the Dicksonia Antarctica and the Dicksonia Arborescens. Incredibly, it still grows 150 years later. Second, I’m fascinated by carnivorous plants, so it was great to see all the venus flytraps.
Concluding the collection of glasshouses is an arid house, a mediterranean house and an alpine house, with the latter displaying a portfolio of plants from mountain ranges across the globe.
Alongside opening the grounds, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens also holds major events, especially during the half-term and school holidays.
We visited previously to attend the Jurassic Gardens; an event with huge, electro-mechanical models of dinosaurs which enchanted adults and children alike.
Another popular attraction during the winter is the Luminate Birmingham Winter Light Trail; a superb evening light display taking place across the grounds.
Birmingham is on the rise, with huge amounts of investment and exciting new attractions springing up across the city. The 2022 Commonwealth Games showcased the city to the entire world, reshaping old, outdated perceptions into one of a thriving, vibrant city with so much to offer.
Yet among the shiny new attractions, it is always the classics that remain timeless. The Birmingham Botanical Gardens have inspired and thrilled for nearly two hundred years, flourishing in a dazzling display of colour year-in, year-out.
If you want a break from the hustle and bustle and wish to enjoy a combination of history and nature, it is the perfect destination to unwind.
Read more… Malvern Hills Travel Guide
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