The Oxford University Botanical Garden must be on the visitors list of top ten things to see. it is an ideal place to visit in bad weather as the glass of the palm house will keep you dry and the artificial tropical heat that the plants need to survive a British winter will keep you warm.

Some of the areas are also artificially kept humid with mist sprays. If you wear spectacles you will find they mist up. Take the lens cap off your camera so it can warm up and have a tissue hand to wipe the condensation off the glass.

This is where the Victorian plant hunters nurtured the the seeds saplings and cuttings they had transported from distant lands over thousands of miles to be studied.

If you are visiting with children set them a task to hunt out different exotic plants. Get them looking for a lemon tree, Then see if they can spy a chocolate coco pod. Tea and coffee bushes are grown as well as pepper and vanilla. One of the most unusual plants under cultivation is plain old rice. It makes their day more enjoyable if it involves a game. Adults like playing as well.

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