Royal Botanic Garden – Spotlight

By Prestige Venues and Events -

The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh has a simple mission: to explore, conserve and explain the world of plants for a better future. It is a leading centre of excellence for research, education and habitat preservation and provides a stunning backdrop for all types of events.

 

History of the Royal Botanic Gardens

The history of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh begin in 1670 with a garden the size of a tennis court on a patch of ground at Holyrood Park. 350 years later the venue is a global centre of excellence across four sites in Scotland and is pivotal to the ongoing sustainability and success of preserved plant collections, botanical libraries and ongoing research.

From it’s inception in the late 1600s, the venue of the gardens (originally created to aid in the development and maintenance of the "culture and importation of foreign plants'' to assist local physicians treating the plague) has change a number of times. This has included a site at Nor’ Loch, and outside of the city centre to a ‘green field’ in 1763 on the site of an ancient high road in Leith.

The current location – in Inverleith – started in 1820 and took a total of three years to complete to ensure the safe moving and delivery of all plants and trees across the city. Along with the size of the venue, the array of plants continued to grow – with plant hunter George Forrest introducing an estimated 10000 plant specimens between 1905 and 1932 alone.

Today, the RGBE has:

  • A plant collection spanning 13,500 species across 116 hectares
  • 150,000 more plants in the specimen library
  • 3 million Herbarium Specimens

 

Hire Options

 Spread across 70 acres of gardens and available year round, the Royal Botanic Gardens offer four indoor and outdoor spaces is offering the perfect outdoor dining experience this summer.

On the John Hope Gateway’s decked terrace, an all-weather kitchen has been installed, where a team of chefs can create a wide range of dishes using home-grown salad, herbs and vegetables cultivated by the Botanic’s own, in-house gardener.

This includes:

  • Venue hire (exclusive private use of the decking)
  • Security
  • Event Designer
  • Event Manager
  • BBQ hire with chefs
  • 2 drinks per person (wine, beer, bubbles and soft drinks)
  • Selection of delicious BBQ food (all sourced as locally as possible)
  • PA System
  • Speakers for music
  • Outdoor furniture
  • Outdoor and indoor bar

Further, the venue is becoming increasingly popular for weddings and special events due to its completely unique backdrop and packages can include everything from the reception itself to the full day of celebration.

You can even get married outside in our John Muir Grove, a stunning location amongst tall Californian Red Woods and follow this up with stunning photo opportunities in our rock gardens.

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