The ‘Royal Botanic Experience’ package at The Glasshouse Hotel in Edinburgh provides an educational excuse for a luxury weekend break. Enjoy a private tour around the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and then relax at a 5* hotel.
Involving a one night stay at a five star hotel with an afternoon tea and a hearty breakfast, the Royal Botanic Experience package includes a private tour around the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, so it’s a winner for garden lovers across the UK.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Established in 1672, this is second oldest botanic garden in Britain. It has moved location four times but remained at the current, 70-acre site since 1820.
We are shown around by our lovely guide Shauna, who has been working at the garden for many years but is still considered a relative newbie, which gives some indication of the dedication and years behind the horticulturalists who form the backbone of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Indeed, it’s a world-leading organisation for plant science, conservation and education programmes and now has three separate, regional gardens across Scotland: Benmore, Dawyck and Logan. Each offer different growing conditions, with Logan enjoying a near subtropical climate due to its placement on the south-western tip of Scotland.
The living collection
Edinburgh Botanic Garden includes an extensive Living Collection, which is largely free for the public to see, since the garden is supported by the government. This Living Collection boasts many superlatives: it features one of the best alpine collections in the world, for example, as well as one of the largest assortments of rhododendron varieties.
The Rock Garden is the most vulnerable area but all the more enticing for this: walk to the top of the viewing point and survey the colourful slopes of low beds bursting with thousands of rare plants from the world’s mountains.
Elsewhere, the Chinese Hillside looks particularly stunning during the autumn period we’re visiting in, with flaming acers reflected in a flowing stream, while the circle of giant redwood trees in the Woodland Garden is a truly awe-inspiring sight to behold. Other areas to see include: the arboretum, the Queen Mother’s Memorial Garden and, behind a vast beech hedge, the Demonstration Garden and Botanic Cottage.
The glasshouses
Arguably the biggest jewel in the crown of the garden, though, is its assortment of glasshouses. And not just because of the smelly plant.
“Will you be seeing the smelly plant today?”, asks our taxi driver in his cheerful Edinburgh burr as we approach the garden. He is referring to the Amorphophallus titanum or ‘corpse plant’ which can be found in the ‘Rainforest Riches’ glasshouse. The largest flowering structure on earth, growing up to three metres tall, it only blooms for 48 hours and emits a smell like rotting flesh while doing so. We weren’t one of the lucky few to make it here during this fleeting window, but we did see many other beautiful specimens.
Fiona takes over our tour once we get to the 25 on-site glasshouses. She is one of the 14 gardeners who work in the glasshouses full time, and has a preference for the more temperate areas. We see the two Victorian Palm Houses as well as the iconic Front Range house of the sixties, with its six climatic zones. Stand out plants include the huge, velvety-leafed Anthurium warocqueanum, the even larger Victoria amazonica (giant waterlilies) which can comfortably support the weight of a human being, and the Cupressus cashmeriana, a great weeping tree in the Temperate Lands House with a gorgeous clash of silver leaves and rusty bark.
Education and research
The Royal Botanic is home to an extensive herbarium, library and training building to underpin research efforts. These areas are not open to the public, but we are able to have a look around, and the highlight of this ‘behind the scenes’ tour has to be the two research glasshouses. Both bursting at the seams with all sorts of weird and wonderful plants, they’re reminiscent of an antiques shop which ran out of space several years ago – the plant version of a doll sitting in a pot on a coffee table on a sofa.
This mental image os only encouraged by the Platycerium sp fanning out on the walls like strange and beautiful wall lamps.
The Glasshouse:
The hotel itself is well located in central Edinburgh, only ten minutes away from the train station. If you go over the weekend, a nice option for Sunday is to enjoy the late checkout and then leave your bags behind reception. This way, you can spend the afternoon window shopping on the Royal Mile or exploring Edinburgh Castle.
The Glasshouse is a boutique sized, city hotel – though its luxurious rooms don’t scamp on space. Communal areas include a contemporary rooftop garden and a ‘Snug’ bar. The former is the perfect setting on which to enjoy a cocktail during summer, while the latter is just the ticket to unwind in at the close of a chilly day. Here, you can sink into a velvet armchair by a roaring fire[pit] and sample from a selection of almost 100 Scottish whiskies.
Breakfast and afternoon tea are served in the Salon, a tranquil room with glass walls boasting majestic views over Carlton Hill. The afternoon tea is not too heavy (in fact, the scones could have been bigger) but overall it’s a tasty offering, including proper Scottish shortbread and dainty macarons. You’re also entitled to a delicious botanical gin martini to set the whole thing off.
Be warned – make sure you leave room for breakfast in the morning, as this is a truly triumphant affair, involving free rein over the continental buffet as well as a hot order of anything from waffles to a full Scottish breakfast.
The Royal Botanic Experience package includes:
- Overnight accommodation in a Carlton Hill Room or Suite
- A private tour of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden with a free souvenir book
- Taxi travel to and from the garden
- Afternoon tea for two at The Glasshouse with a botanical cocktail
- A full Scottish breakfast
Prices start from £365. For more information, visit theglasshousehotel.co.uk.
Check out what’s on at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh at rbge.org.uk.
Don’t forget to sign up for our monthly The English Gardener newsletter, bringing you all the practical gardening advice you need throughout the year. Sign up on the right of this article.
The post Visit the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in style appeared first on The English Garden.