St Andrews Botanic Garden
Hello, I’m Ralph and a very warm Scottish Welcome to the Old Course Hotel and our all new Concierge Blog. I plan to bring you information on all the things going on around the Resort as well as some great local information and events that will hopefully give you some ideas for places to visit on your next trip to St Andrews.
April brings the new golf season which is a really exciting time as more golfers begin to arrive. For those of you who think a tee is a good brew best served with a chocolate biscuit and a bogey is….well you get where I’m going with this… then you’ll be delighted to hear that St Andrews has a whole host of activities away from the greens – From a great selection of boutique shops to lovely coffee shops, ice cream and sweetie shops, art galleries, some wonderful restaurants and bars as well as fantastic events like The On The Rocks Arts festival (http://www.ontherocksfestival.com/) running all across town this week.
The glorious weather we have had recently has been perfect for getting out and exploring the town. Now I can’t guarantee the weather but it’s worth noting that St Andrews is the sunniest town in Scotland – so you can be as sure as you can be in Scotland of a cracking day out at this time of year. One stop we always recommend to our guests is the St Andrews Botanic Gardens. The gardens are perfect for family picnics and in fact, one of our team members Tom loves visiting the Botanic Garden with his young family. The kids love to run around the gardens, exploring all the different, plants and trees. As you enter the different glasshouses you are transported into different worlds, the cactus garden is amazing and kids will love the different types of cacti. Tom’s little girl thinks one of them looks like a giant spider!
The glasshouses are home to a vast array of plants from all over the world – you’ll find plants from Central Chile, South Africa, Australia, the Mediterranean and North West America. Stepping into the Temperate House you could easily be in a beautiful tropical land with stunning plants and spectacular waterfall.
Take in the beautiful colours and smells as you walk around the woodland area along to the rock garden. The rock garden is particularly interesting at this time of year, with over 2,500 species of alpine plants some of which are native to Scotland. The Rock Garden Scree features an array of low lying shrubs, right now there are some beautiful yellow colours and it is fantastic to see the change in colours as the different plants develop through out the year.
The Garden has extended its opening hours for the summer season from 10am until 7pm. I suggest you take a picnic and spend your afternoon wandering around the Gardens. For more information visit the St Andrews Botanic Gardens website http://www.st-andrews-botanic.org/
The forecast for the rest of week is mostly dry and sunny with just a couple of showers on Saturday and only a few wee clouds on Sunday – it’s going to be warm again though so take the sunscreen with your picnic!
Look forward to speaking soon.
Ralph
Posted: April 21st, 2011 under Local Attractions.
