Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Hidden just outside of the city centre, are the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. I have always enjoyed my visits here, which have ranged from live music, a food and crafts market, a formal ball, and even a modelling shoot.
There are plenty of spaces to explore around the gardens. If you’re looking to while away the hours, and feel as if you’ve left the city, then come here. The paths around the gardens do guide you on a pleasant walk, but there are plenty of places to sit, and enjoy the peace, and colours. I have a fondness for a particular spot in the gardens, as it’s where I got engaged. It’s very romantic to be able to revisit the same place many years on.
If you’re here for an event in the evening, be sure to take drinks outside to watch the sun set. It’s a lovely view, and particularly special for Birmingham.

I popped into the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a meeting on a very sunny Thursday afternoon around 3:15pm. Although the venue is accessible by bus, I was picked and and taken down there. The venue does have a car park (you validate your parking once you have entered the gardens), but on a sunny day (such as the one we visited on) this was heaving and we struggled to find a space. If you are heading down on a day it could be busy, it might be worth either catching a bus or getting their early to avoid car park rage.
The entry area is gorgeous. Very Victorian in style, the ticket desk is situated within an old glasshouse. Once you have paid your entry (£7 for single adults, £12 for two adults, £4.75 a child and children under 5 go free), you can pop through the barriers and head for the tropical house.
The tropical, sub tropical and arrid (currently being refurbished) houses are all a treat to walk around in their own right. The different climates created to keep the inhabiting plants healthy makes the experience like you’re walking through other countries. There is also a pond with gigantic koi carp in, so well worth a couple of minutes dawdle. To the left of these is the Japanese and Bonsai gardens. Being a bit of a fan of Japan, these small areas were actually some of of favourite areas in the whole venue.
Out of the glass houses there is much to explore. Landscaped areas, bamboo hideaways, themed gardens, snakes, parrots, bandstand and a butterfly house; there is enough here to keep a child occupied for a couple of hours. The large, lush lawn area is incredibly inviting and I would recommend taking a picnic down and just enjoying the good weather (if it’s a nice day, of course).
The gardens also has a coffee shop (this is a Costa, but is serviceable) and a lovely gift shop (which is free to enter if you just wanted to wander through), which has a range of different gifts, cards and plants to buy and take away.
I can’t believe this was my first visit to the Botanical Gardens! Believe you me, we’ll be back again very soon! Highly recommended.

Smaller than I expected but overall a lot of fun. Spent a good 5 hours wondering around with friends and sitting admiring the views. I also really enjoyed the brass band in the pavilion who played YMCA among others! Only complaint was that the tearoom was quite expensive. £6 for a sandwich and packet of crisps

Half term fun! As with many parents, I’m always looking for new child friendly places to go during the school holidays. For a long time I’ve been disappointed with myself that I’ve never taken her to The Botanical Gardens, especially as it’s walking distance (1.5 miles) from my house. So on a brisk autumn day we set off.
The gardens opened in 1832 and cover a 15 acre site. They were part of the grand glass houses trend that led to many being built in the 19^th century.
I feel that we (I) should support the Botanical Gardens as a part of Birmingham’s history and heritage. However, unfortunately I wasn’t really impressed.
Entry wasn’t expensive, which is a plus point. I paid £6.30 for myself and my daughter got in for free as she’s under 5. Lots of local attractions charge over 3s £10+, so price wise I was impressed.
The glass houses are feeling rather tired and perhaps an increased entry fee could help to restore them. Within the glass houses are lots of plants. I’m sure many of them are rare in the UK. As I have no idea about botany, I felt like I was walking through a garden centre; think ‘Webbs of Wychbold’. I’m sorry but with my limited knowledge of plants, I couldn’t see much difference, other than they weren’t for sale.
Plants of note were: cocoa, grapefruit, and Buddha’s hand.
Outside was I well kept lawn. Again I couldn’t see the attraction over going to a nice park. I’m sure they put more effort in than the council and the plants and flowers are more expensive. I just didn’t find it enhanced my experience. Because I wasn’t able to explain the plants to my daughter, I doubt she got anything from it too.
There is a large aviary in the gardens. This again, looks very tired. I felt that some of the larger birds (parrots etc) whilst in large gages, should be set free to fly for miles. Their feathers didn’t seem healthy; maybe they’re just getting old? I’ve never been a fan of keeping animals in captivity.
They have a nice ‘adventure playground’ for the kids to play on. The ‘adventure’ bit means that there’s a trim-​trail as well as the usual swings and slide. These yet again are old, the once brightly painted colours has worn away to reveal the bare metal underneath. It reminded me of the same equipment one used to find outside of a ‘Happy Eater’, and was probably built about the same time. The trim trail being a later addition from circa 20 years ago. This wasn’t noticed by my daughter who just enjoyed playing on it. Still, nothing one can’t get for free at a local park.
The ‘discovery garden’ was mainly closed off due to taking a hammering in a storm 8 months ago. The bits that were open, hadn’t been repainted since being built. Where wooden poles had been knocked over from a maze, they hadn’t been replaced, leaving many shortcuts through the maze. There was a notice saying that they’re planing a new ‘discovery garden’, so will have to see what (and when) that brings.
The ‘Pavillion Café’ does look like it has been modernised and redecorated recently. One can’t help but notice that they sell Costa coffee, as the brand’s logo is everywhere. We didn’t stay for lunch as a plain ham & cheese sandwich costs £4.50. I wasn’t brave enough to check the cooked food prices. We just had a hot chocolate and a bag of crisps.
I feel bad for being negative about the Botanical Gardens as I want to support Birmingham’s history and ensure that it’s preserved for future generations. I just didn’t get much from it. Maybe it’s my own fault for not knowing enough about botany? Would charging £15 entry and turning it into a Botanical Gardens ‘theme park’ style attraction like Cadbury World make it any better? Probably not, and the devoted fans (sorry to be age generalist, but mainly pensioners) would hate it.
It does feel like a lovely venue to have an event though. I know they do have lots of weddings and such there. Their function room is put to good use. Maybe a Unilocal event could work? It would surely make for interesting surroundings to have a drink; like being in a garden centre with a park.

The venue for my year 13 leaving ball, the Botanical Gardens proved to be a very capable location for such an event, with every single person enjoying themselves that evening.
The staff in the hall provided to us were more than welcoming and despite the fact that a fairly large wedding reception was taking place on the same grounds, they were extremely accommodating.
The grounds themselves were picturesque for such a evening, with countless pictures taken using the gardens as a perfect setting.
Overall, the evening was more than pleasant, with the staff contributing to that immensely, in a night that will stay in hundreds of peoples memories for a long time.

I love the Botanical Gardens! I once organised a group trip there for a group of teenagers with SEN. The staff were incredibly helpful, and provided us with our own space to have lunch as well as maps of the space too — their website also has example routes, and a raft of downloadable resources including risk assessments! So helpful!
Before the visit, I talked at length with staff about where would be best to explore (we were looking at ‘sensory’ outdoor spaces) and narrowed it down to a quick browse of the Discovery Garden followed by their Growing Schools Garden (designed by a TV garden designer!) and they loved it ALL. The range of plants and sculptural forms and architecture and winding paths captivated their imaginations and helped keep them engaged throughout.

The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a delightful grounds full of horticultural wonders from far-​flung corner of the world — it provides the most glorious day out.
I have visited the Botanical Gardens many times, and every time it is a joy. As you walk enter the palpable humidity of the first tropics room, with the dark pond full of enormous, luminous fish as the central feature. You stumble across cocoa, banana, papaya trees and more. The green hill that awaits you outside I’m sure has been the hill to assist many a gambol since it’s inception (perhaps not in Britain’s distinguished imperial era though). The curves of the hill descend to the band stand, where they often have ambient music (weather permitting) that makes the whole experience even more charming.
There’s a café, a playground, a large bird house and many more gardens to enjoy, including the Japanese Bonsai garden, the Mediterranean house and more.
Birmingham’s Botanical Gardens is a glorious and resplendent establishment that presents a wholly special and unique experience.

As every big city, Birmingham has its Botanical Gardens as well. Located in Edgbaston, this site was projected in 1829, but just in 1932 it was opened for the public.
The importance of this site to the city is expressed not just in the over 7.000 plants that are encountered there but also for its gorgeous facilities that includes a wonderful Pavilion Tea Room and The Grasshouses.
In fact, experiencing The Grasshouses for the first time brought me back to my origins. The Brazilian planted seen there at the Tropical House are something to take for granted. It is quite scary to imagine that a Pará Rubber tree, for example, is something very rare.
Yet in the The Grasshouses, the collection of orchids from the Subtropical House is something to admire calmly, as well as the carnivore plants.
The Japanese garden together with the animals and gardens and other events presented at this extraordinary site make me believe that the Birmingham Botanical Garden worth more than one single visiting.
The adult ticket costs £ 7, children over 5 years £ 4.75 with free admission to kids under 5 years old.

Beautiful gardens full of various plants and very well landscaped. Some areas did seem to need a bit more care. Little cute cat that belongs to the gardens seemed a bit poorly. Sweet touch though.

A fabulous day out to rejuvinate after a busy week in the city. Lovely gardens and plants but you don’t have to travel miles and miles to enjoy it! Would definately recommend a visit and would definately take my camera next time!

it houses a galery that has different exhibitons in it. i went when a textile one was on and it was well worth a look. we went as 2 adults and it cost us £15.00 and we stayed 3 hours but could of stayed longer if wether was warmer. will revisit in summer. it houses lots of different glass houses the medditereanen and subtropical were the best.

This is a lovely place to visit, the Botanical Gardens. There is a large variety of both plants and animals. The gardens are absolutely amazing with all the beautiful flowers and vibrant colours. Good on all types of days but especially in the sunny months.
You are able to book for special occasions such as weddings and it provides the perfect scenery and atmosphere for both the day and the photos.

I’m always quite fascinated when I vist the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham. I think the whole place is very tasteful — so it’s easy to see why people choose it as a wedding venue.
I’ve been here as a visitor and have also attended a dinner here a couple of years ago, which was lovely. The staff who work here made the event perfect, and we were welcome to wonder fully around the gardens ‘out of hours’ which was a fabulous experience.
The Botanical Gardens are about 10 minutes out of Birmingham city centre on a major bus route. There is also a decent sized car park.
I’ve never experienced the place to be too busy which is great, or too expensive which is even better!
I’d recommend visiting here as something relaxing to do in the city.

When living in halls of residence at university, i used to be able to see the botanical gardens from my window, granted it was a distant view but a view nonetheless!
That sparked off by curiosity to go and see what the gardens were, and i have never regretted it.
It is perfect to go and revise, or have a picnic after looking round all the plants.
the greatest part of the experience are the open air plays and concerts.

The Botanical Gardens is a great place to visit if you have a few hours to spare on an afternoon or maybe more! It has a host of unusual plants within the glasshouses and even more gardens to walk around in the surrounding area. They do weddings receptions and parties there if you wanted to do something a bit different.
I go there fairly often myself to put my photography skills to the test.

Entry is fairly cheap and concessions are available. Great for a relaxing day out. There are some beautiful exotic flowers to be seen. For the kids (and big kids) there is a playground with swings, slides etc. A nice place to have a picnic as the food can be slightly expensive. You can get buses from the city centre to the place.

If you live in the local area, it is well worth getting a season ticket/​family pass for the year at the Botanics, as it works out much cheaper than individuakl day tickets, that can be a bit pricey. But if you make the day out of it, there’s plenty to do. There is an indoor botanics area as well as the expanse of outdoor beauty around the whole centre. Monkeys and budgees are there too, and you can spend hours walking around, with plenty to see in individual glass houses.
There’s a great adventure play area to keep the kids occupied, and the gardens are always immaculate, maintainance really is first class, closely clipped lawns and beatifully nutured plants.
The café serves a great (but slightly pricey) lunch, and theres even a gift shop to top the day off!
Great day out for all ages, and well worth visiting!

I was truely impressed by the diversity of plants at the Glasshouses and Botanical Gardens. There are tropical, subtropical, mediterranean and arid houses. It makes for a wonderful indoor walk with plenty of benches and most importantly plants. For botany-​lovers or lovers the gardens are one of Birmingham’s best features.

What a truly glorious Oasis in the heart of the city. When the forecast is good, pack up the family and take them here. There’s acre upon acre of beautiful gardens. Glasshouses choc full of plants and trees. A wonderful old style bandstand stands proud on the main lawn. The children will love the play area. Fantastic place to take a picnic basket full of goodies.
Finally don’t forget to check out the Gallery, with its changing exhibits… you may even leave with a masterpiece!

This is a very nice place to visit and see a variety of wildlife including different species of plants and animals. It’s also a good place to go for a photo shoot after a wedding as the beautiful flowers in the gardens make a lovely back drop for any picture. However, like any park, you visit risks being ruined if the great Bristish weather suddenly changes for the worse, other than that, its a great place to go especially for fresh air for people who live in the crowded inner city.