Cambridge University Botanic Garden:
Volunteer Sighted Guide Scheme

Wendy Brewin (Involvement)

The 40 acre Botanic Garden of Cambridge University lies to the south of the city. The garden is open all year round, except the period between Christmas and New Year, and there is a small admission charge.

How to get there

It is only a few minutes walk from the railway station and there is 'pay and display' car parking on Trumpington Road, near the Garden's Bateman Street gate. Buses run from a ‘Park & Ride’ facility at Trumpington stop outside the garden.

What's on offer

Besides the usual group tours, volunteers give sighted guide tours to groups and individuals with visual impairments. The tours last around 1 or 2 hours, depending on the needs of the visitor(s) and no charge is made for this service.

Various plants and areas within the botanical gardens are brought to the attention of the visually impaired visitor. Most areas are accessible with good paths and wide open stretches of parkland, which can be accessed by anyone including people with mobility difficulties. Everywhere the wide-spreading branches of giant ancient trees create havens of dappled light. Various types of barks offer a selection of textures: smooth, gnarled, craggy and papery.

You can sit for a moment on a wooden bench planted with camomile, in a peaceful area off the main path, pausing to allow your senses to experience the place. There is a miniature maze created from a New Zealand grass which grows only a few feet high, enjoyed by children and adults of all ages and abilities. The grass makes a pleasant swishing sound as your legs brush past.

“Healthy Herbie” is both a visual and an aromatic delight - a planted herb bed dug out in the shape of a person. From head to toe are displayed numerous plants that are used to make modern prescribed medicines. Each is planted in the area of the body relating to its medicinal qualities. A ‘dinner plate’ on one side brims with various health-promoting food plants that have been scientifically proven to help protect our bodies from disease. Best viewed during the summer months, many of these are plants that we take for granted in everyday life, as well as in our culinary extravaganzas.

Various areas of the gardens are ‘themed’. There’s the Dry Garden, Winter Garden and Limestone Mound to name but a few, as well as a glasshouse range with alpine, tropical rainforest and desert areas. A bonus for those of us who like to rest every now and then are the many seats, benches, and quiet corners around the gardens. I watched people stroll around smelling, touching, listening, picnicking with friends in the picnic area or just sitting quietly enjoying the gardens from their chosen areas of solitude.

The following are just a few of the many plants which can be found at the Botanic Garden:

Orchid psychopsisi, courtesy of Cambridge Uni Botanic Garden

Winter/Early Spring

Flowering Shrubs: Winter flowering honeysuckles, Mahonia japonica, Viburnum farreri, Witch hazel (Hamamelis mollis).
Climbers with scented flowers: Clematis armandii, Jasminum nudiflorum
Species with scented leaves: Flowering currants (Ribes), Woodruff (especially when frosted).

Late Spring and Summer

Trees with scented leaves or flowers: Balsam poplar (scented leaf buds in spring) lime (scented flowers in late June/July)
Herbs with scented leaves: thyme, sage, scented-leaved pelargonium, camomile, helichrysum/curry plant

Autumn

Shrubs with scented flowers Azara, Eleagnus pungens.
Climber with scented flowers: Clematis flammula

All year round

Trees with distinctive textured bark eg: oak, giant redwood, walnut, black pine, Himalayan birch, river birch, Tibetan cherry, dawn redwood, paperbark maple.

For more information about the sighted guide tours on offer at Cambridge University Botanic Garden:

Telephone: 01223 336265, Fax: 01223 336278;
email: enquiries@botanic.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
Cory Lodge, Bateman Street
CAMBRIDGE , CB2 1JF
website: www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

Solandra, courtesy of Cambridge Uni Botanic Garden

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