We visited on a chilly February morning. Entry was £8 with gift aid and spoiler alert, incredible value for money! Given the time of year, we pretty much had the gardens to ourselves for most of the visit. Provided with a map, it was very easy to navigate. The gardens themselves are a pleasure to wander through, laid out very well. Although the flowers were not in bloom and the trees were bare, we enjoyed seeing the form and structure of the trees and the whole garden has such a lovely “mature” feel to it. Kudos to the team keeping it so well maintained. The glasshouses are even better. The walk through the rainforest and the pond houses were luscious, with plants hanging down you have to duck under or carefully walk past. Of special note are the numerous and wondrous pitcher plants. There are information boards scattered throughout that are brief but informative and worth the read. The only thing we would have liked to see is the English names for the trees and plants outside in the garden. Many of the cards only have the Latin name of the plant, and whilst we appreciate it’s Oxford, not everyone is fluent in Latin and it would certainly add to the experience knowing what we were looking at. The toilets were aged but clean. The staff were helpful and it’s only a small shop with the regular items you’d expect but with a nice selection of books specific to the gardens we enjoyed browsing on the way out. Overall, a 10 out of 10 experience and definitely worth the short walk from the city centre to enjoy a break from the indoor attractions of your visit.

We had an extra hour on a day trip to Oxford and visited this Botanic Garden, apparently the oldest such garden in the UK. The glass houses were crowded, not only with people but also with plants, so it was difficult to get a clear view of individual plants and flowers. Throughout the garden there are useful information on small notice boards, and the outdoor part of the garden was less crowded and plants were better organised. Early May was still too early to get many flowers, so I guess we must come again later in the year. There was a sign to a café in the garden, but it turned out to just be a caravan selling drinks and snacks, so we had our refreshments elsewhere once we got out.

We had a couple of hours to spare after punting on the river so thought we would pop in. Approx £8 each coffee truck on site clean toilets. Large gardens and green houses to walk round. Everything clearly labelled. Only real criticism would be the front gardens with roses growing. Despite being nice they had lots of tall thistles and looked un loved which surprised me as it's the first area you see. Would go back again. Great staff in reception card only payments really friendly.

Very good, but needs more colour. Well cared for. Unusual layout with many beds devoted to plant families. Some good ideas and inspiration. Excellent backdrop of ancient arches and walls. Plenty of seating Inexpensive, esp when to see it all in any detail you need three hours. Hot houses not especially impressive. A significant part of this very large 'plot' seemed to have followed the re-wilding bandwagon. Unsurprisingly, there were many more bees, hoverflies and other insects visible in the 'cultivated' parts of the garden than in the re-wilded mess.

Excellent gardens, located very centrally so quite accessible. They are not very extensive but are detailed and complex. We visited at the height of summer and many plants were in bloom. Pleasingly most plants were labelled. There is also some interpretation relating to plant taxonomy

Since it was a lovely day, we walked from the city centre which took around 10 minutes. There are lots of flowers and plants in bloom, all labelled so you could what they were are their origins. There are a few conservatories to walk through, which house the more exotic plants. It took about an hour to walk around, and well worth the admission fee.

Nice visit whilst staying in oxford. £8 entry and despite being small we did spent a couple of hours here so good value. We especially liked the greenhouses with some interesting plants. No food oulets as such but small coffee van so enjoyed a drink by the river before heading into Oxford for food.

I came here on my own whilst the friend I wads with had decided to go shopping. It was a short walk from the shopping area and was a great way to escape the noise and hurly burly of such a busy city. Due to the strange summer weather this year, the gardens were a little past their best but there was still some lovely colour. Most of the plants were labelled up. As it was so hot, I avoided the glasshouses, instead taking refuge in a woodland type area for a rest. The area by the river had a van selling refreshments and it was fun watching the punts passing by. I am not a fan of the current fad of rewilding and to be honest, it was a huge patch of scruffy dried grass and weeds snd detracted from the overall look of the gardens.

Expectations were middling after being so disappointed with the Cambridge Botanic. Prompt warm welcome desk. Fairly standard array of plants in the small well-kept glasshouses where the arid and rainforest houses stand out. Neat rectangular beds in the lawned wall garden show off the plants well though the keen plantsman might want for more rarity. However there are several gems and the whole is very well maintained. As is often the case the plant labelling is good but the app is still needed for a few examples. We’ll omit the Lower Garden which gardeners will find confusing unless you like golden rod.

In the future, if I want to recall what happiness felt like, I might well imagine myself sitting by the fountain, in the late summer sunshine, people watching here. I adored my visit. Surrounded by the colleges and with the river along side it, the Botanical Gardens are just lovely. It’s always nice to go to gardens, but these have some extra pleasures, both in terms of decent explanations, eg a display of plants used to make gin, and literary themes, eg poisonous plants in Agatha Christie’s work. I also liked Lyra’s bench and the statue of the daemons, imaginative. The Merton borders contained vast amounts of golden rod, reminding me that as a small child, an old lady gave me a poem containing the line’Or I should be a golden rod’, among other plants the poem dedicated to divine praise. At the end, a sales van enabled me to sit by the river watching the punting. No one fell in ! The entrance and exit are through the shop, quite small but with an appropriate selection of items. My heart sings, remembering.