Birmingham Botanical Gardens

To our members, the #gardens are a much loved place where they meet up with friends and family - get all-year access for your family here: https://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.or g.uk/become-a-mem…/ #birminghambotanicalgardens

Don't forget to sign-up to our #DSLR #camera course! Starting with the absolute basics, you’ll soon be avoiding auto and composing with confidence https://bit.ly/2HhMKFO

''If you come to the #BotanicalGardens, watch out for flowering shrubs, at this time of the year many are scenting the air''. Find out what we have planned this month in our latest Gardener's #blog https://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.or g.uk/…/january-ga…/

Stay tuned to find out what #February #halfterm activities we have planned this year! We're excited to share them with you....

January is a busy time at the #gardens but with this kind weather the #gardeners can get to grips with the many tasks that need doing both inside and out. Take a look at our #blog to see just what's involved. Fingers crossed the #bonsais won't need moving! https://bit.ly/2AMebSy

Make sure you make the most of your visit and come have a look at our plants of the month - the best way to see the Gardens in all their glory https://bit.ly/2ADWAMy

If you're interested in bringing a group to visit - we would be delighted to welcome you to our site. Find everything you will need to plan your trip here: https://bit.ly/2A6Y55Q

We have just released our full list of photography courses for next year! Have a look through and sign-up now so you don't miss out: https://bit.ly/2s5ZyoM

To welcome the replanting of the North American herbaceous shrubs and seeds, we are offering a poetry appreciation course, which explores the work of twentieth century North American poets. Find out more: https://bit.ly/2zsGUv9

Make sure you make the most of your visit and come have a look at our plants of the month - the best way to see the Gardens in all their glory https://bit.ly/2ADWAMy

We are well and truly in 2019 now, so why not start planning your vegetable crop rotations for the coming season?

We have some fantastic events coming up - make sure you keep an eye out on our events page. Have a look at the photography and poetry courses we have on there right now: https://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.or g.uk/whatson/

It may be colder, but there are still things you can be doing in the garden. Have you harvested your leeks, parsnips, winter cabbage, sprouts and remaining root crops yet?

Remember to check out our 'plants of the month' before you visit so you know which flowers and plants are at their best! https://bit.ly/2AWsgzk

This time of year, make sure you inspect your stored tubers of Dahlia, Begonia and Canna for rots or drying out

If you're interested in bringing a group to visit - we would be delighted to welcome you to our site. Find everything you will need to plan your trip here: https://bit.ly/2A6Y55Q

Before you visit, why not have a look at all our Gardens and make a note of the route you want to take with our online map: https://bit.ly/2CvOnMo

Remember to check out our plants of the month before you visit so you know which flowers and plants are at their best! https://bit.ly/2AWsgzk

I would like to express my disappointment in my recent visit.



I visited the gardens with my friends and family, included in our party were 3 toddlers.





The lights were fantastic and really got us in the Christmas spirit, and then we saw it!



I can only describe it as the nightmare before Christmas, possibly the most horrendous and frightening Father Christmas I have ever seen.



Santa looked like he was getting ready for a underground illegal rave, with a painted white face and thick black eyeliner.



Of course it’s a big deal to see the man himself, as he is so busy this time of year and I totally get that he would want to let off some steam when he finished his shift.



Safe to say, we will go visit him maybe earlier in the month of December and a Saturday morning before he decides to stay out all weekend and forget to take his makeup off (he has to keep his skin clear of spots of course).

Last year me and my family went to the Christmas lantern show and really enjoyed it there was lots of different lanterns and lights all differant sizes and colours...but this year was terrible and i think its absolutely shocking that the event can even still charge the same price considering there's not half as much there as there was last year...ive got the pictures to prove it !! The Santa lanterns the animal lanterns None of them was there in fact barely any lanterns at all...very very disappointed won't be going back next year.

I love it here and have bought a season ticket but it's always chaos on Bank Holidays or events! We came yesterday for a family day out and couldn't park - ended up going to Winterbourne Gardens instead, much less hassle! I feel my season ticket is wasted and won't be renewing!

I have just got home from the seeing all the lights with my 6 and 1 year old they liked all the lights but we were all very disappointed with the Santa we were thinking they would be able to have some form of contact/interaction with him not just him reciting a poem then disappearing. After spending £40 on this I now need to find somewhere on Christmas Eve to take them. Very disappointed and will not be returning or recommending to anyone.

I am a member and love it here. However I recently got a parking charge notice come through for one of my visits to the gardens. I called up and asked for help as the computer that you register your registration plate on didn’t work properly. They told me they will call back and didn’t. I’m now left stuck appealing a parking charge that I did not deserve. Really cross.

Went to this on the 2nd December. I have emailed twice with my feedback, thought I would go direct however I had no response.

I was really disappointed with this experience and believe it to be false advertising. We came for my mums 60th. The lights were pretty but for the money was very poor on the whole. The website implied hot drinks and marshmallows were included but were they were very over priced. £1.50 for one marshmallow toasted over very hot dangerous coal pit. It was too hot to get anywhere near to roasting. We knew before hand we had to pay for rides but £2 per child added another £12 to the bill.

The Santa was very unrealistic not the jolly old man on the website.

So disappointed, don’t waste your money.

We've been members for a few years but will not be renewing this year. The grounds themselves are ok but not exciting enough to warrant going often and now with the unethical and abhorrent contract they have just signed with Civil enforcement Ltd to police their parking lot we are done. Our son has autism and needs routine, we park in the Botanical gardens for years for his swimming next door and then go for a walk afterwards in the gardens, this is on sundays before the gardens open, so there are only two or three cars. A few weeks ago he was not feeling well so we left straight after swimming and we received a £60 fine. The staff told us it had nothing to do with them so we had to deal with the scum at the company. I understand the need to monitor parking during busy periods but it should not be about making money when the lot is empty, you have sullied your brand by contracting a notoriously immoral company and in addition to losing our annual membership I will be actively discouraging people online. Trying to remain at arms length from an immoral company does not abrogate you from responsibility.

We visited last weekend for the Christmas event, to say we were disappointed would be a complete understatement. It was over £40 for 4 of us, we had built it up so much to our two children only to arrive and be met by nothing Christmassy! A few fair rides at the beginning which were £2 a go even having to pay £2 for a parent to accompany a toddler on the helter skelter which was soaking wet! The lights were pretty but nothing to do with Christmas. The fire lanterns which we were looking forward to were very disappointing and the cook your own marshmallows were £1.50 per mallow and all in obscure flavours that children wouldn’t like. Santa and his elf couldn’t remember their lines and mistook a little girl in the audience for a boy! A steward mistook us for our children’s grandparents and at 40 with an 8 year old....im not looking that old yet! We were in and out of the display within an hour, we had booked our tickets for late afternoon envisaging spending the whole evening there, we played on the play park for half an hour of our visiting time. So overall I would say keep your money! It would be better spent taking your kids to see a Santa somewhere.

Visited the gardens with membership card. Entered car details in the machine as instructed. Over 6 weeks later we end up with a parking fine of £120!! We followed the procedure of entering the car details into the machine and still ended up with a fine! What is the explanation for this?! Unfortunately the botanical gardens are not interested in helping and seem to think they can take no responsibility. Clearly the machines were not working on that day as 2 friends I was with also received fines despite using the machines.

The staff were uninterested and unhelpful about the situation.

There is clearly something seriously wrong with the system.

Will not be visiting again and nether will friends and family. It's a shame as my children have always loved coming here and we were regular visitors.

You are really letting your visitors and yourselves down... you should be ashamed!

The parking situation at the botanical gardens is disgusting! I visited a month ago and followed the instructions by the member of staff to register my registration plate at their automated machine. I was then hit with a £120 parking fine 2 weeks later. We sent the company an appeal letter including copies of the receipts to prove we visited the gardens and the company have stated that the fine still stands and our appeal was unsuccessful. I called the botanical gardens and got no help what so ever. They gave me the number I already had for the parking company and informed me there was nothing else they could do. I would avoid going at all costs as you can be hit with an expensive fine!

POOR DISABLED EXPERIENCE- I visited today with my husband who has MS. We phoned yesterday and reserved a mobility scooter and were allocated a blue mobility scooter which had the front basket missing and damage to the front left indicator (missing) and facia. Much worse than this, unknown to us the battery was almost empty of charge and near the start of our visit the scooter was unable to go. I went back to reception to get another scooter only to be told that they were all not working. So one of the garden staff had to get a manual wheelchair and push my husband on a very bumpy journey back up hill to reception so we could leave, as without a working mobility scooter we were unable to continue our visit. We were told that the hot weather was causing the batteries to drain very quickly.

So why weren’t we told sorry no mobility scooters available? We would have visited another day and to issue one with very little electric charge is very bad practice in my view, as is to issue a damaged one bearing in mind we had to leave a £50 refundable deposit for this machine.

Two further points:

The route from the Subtropical House exit onto the Loudon Terrace is NOT, in my view, an acceptable route for mobility scooters/wheelchairs. It is a very tight, risky manoeuvre with the steps only a few inches away.

The printed map of the Botanical Gardens does not have highlighted any mobility scooter/wheelchair suitable route. This is not good practice in my view as having such a highlighted route would make navigation much easier.



I appreciate that you are a charity and that you have a very good educational ethos but we do feel that our experience today falls well below the level of standard in terms of disabled access that is expected.

I must point out that the member of garden staff who pushed me back helped us extremely well and was most apologetic about the whole situation. I suggest you need to revisit your access policy as words are all well and good but without the will to make a disabled persons experience a good one don’t count for much!

No cake for a pre-paid afternoon tea. I visited with a large group and we were all disappointed with the complete lack of sweets to follow savoury. I have never heard of afternoon tea without scones and jam. Gluten free items were available upon request but the tea and coffees were only re-filled when we could find a member of staff to ask. Some members of our party cant have caffeine so the only cold refreshment was water, unless they wanted to buy a drink from the mini-bar. It would have been nice to have a jug or water or cordial on each table.

Me and my family attended Christmas at the botanical gardens last night. Yes the lights were very pretty to see and a lot of thought had gone in the display. But disappointed and disgusted with the attitudes of all the staff on site. From car park attendants to general staff attendants dotted round the gardens, utterly rude and miserable! Not one simple please or thank you. The whole event was poorly executed and no excuse for rude staff members when were paying customers. Not happy! I've emailed admin at the gardens to complain. But God knows if anyone will actually reply to me, reading some of the other reviews on here.

Like Bryony Flint and Irem Mumtaz I too thought I had complied with the signs by putting my registration number in the machine near the entrance. No ticket came out but there did not appear to be any ‘drop-down’ slot for one to descend into so I wasn’t concerned. It was only several weeks later when I went back to check did I notice the full instructions on a pedestal some distance away from the machine. I appealed to the company and to POPLA and got nowhere. It’s not good enough the Botanic Gardens (which are really very nice) saying their parking is controlled by a 3rd Party. That does not absolve them of some responsibility to liaise with a company that seems to be controlled by a load of sharks. I would strongly advise people to THINK TWICE BEFORE VISITING THE GARDENS as you could easily end up with a huge fine even though you think you have followed all the rules!

I am really disapointed in our recent visit on saturday evening. Firstly for paying £50 for a few lights. Santa was clearly a woman! And didnt stay when she saw more people walking towards her. And then the rides at the end were £2 each. I felt i had to give my children some excitment so let them on 2 rides each which my youngest wasnt aloud on her own which means an adult had to go on with her.

The food was nice although the hot dog was £6 and the hog roast was £6.50 and very messy. Lastly there was no parking anywhere near. I will not be returning!

Had a nice just over a hour with friends .. after arriving late due to a doctors apt.

Forgot to register car reg via machine on entry.

Had to pay 100 x entry fee..

Tried appealing no success..Will contact independent company also.

Botanical gardens have hired this company to help them make more money..

I would understand you would want to discourage any other public from using the Car park..... but penalise your own customers and clientele.. is not the way forward..

I'm sure botanical gardens must receive lottery.. charity funding also..

It's disgraceful and don't pass the buck..!!!!!

Except it's a money making scheme... which is victimising your own customers..

SHAME ON YOU!!!!!

Disappointed to say the least!!

I booked an afternoon tea for 2. The room was cold with no atmosphere, the tea was stone cold, we had to ask for another fresh pot. Only one tea bag was placed in a pot big enough for 4 cups.

The background music was a few songs on repeat including land of hope and glory, even my mom had to laugh. We were only in there 40 minutes and heard the same songs twice.

The sandwiches were absolutely awful, flavourless and freezing cold as if taken from the fridge and made days before. Flat as a pancake and soggy. I have tasted better sandwiches at a motorway service station!

Cakes were just frozen and defrosted cakes.

The service was poor from two young lads who had no conversation with us, didn't even ask how our food was.

The only nice thing was the scone.



The gardens were a disappointment too.

Will not be recommending.

Came to the Christmas event and have never been so disappointed with a Christmas event ever! Not remotely Christmassy other than a couple of light up reindeer and a two minute santa show with a Santa who clearly had better things to do! Way over priced for less than an hour to walk around!! 30 minutes of that playing on the park! Complete waste of time and money! The fair rides right at the entrance made in chaos at the start! Save your money!

Came for the "Easter egg hunt". 100% not as described on all the read ups I had seen.

It was just queue after queue. The "prize" was a Cadbury cream egg!

The so called "chocolate factory" was no more than 2 rubbish gazebos with a chocolate fountain and 4 marshmallows on a stick for £2. It was not the "create and make amazing treats" as stated on the website.

After having to park a mile away, wait for 40mins and pay so much to get in, it was then a bit of a kick in the teeth to have to pay for EVERY little thing.

I will not be recommending or returning. Such a disappointment. I'm just glad that my niece is not old enough to be as disappointed as I was.