Time For Lunch,

so into a pub it was then,

we decided on the Wig & Pen,

in George Street,

we decided against a starter,

Diana chose hunter’s chicken, which is wrapped in smoked streaky bacon topped with melting beer cheese and crispy prosciutto on BBQ onion chutney and served with thick-cut chips and coleslaw,

for myself scampi and chips, the meal with Diana's coke came to £40.00,

back out and into town,

we passed a few more shops,

catering to the Harry Potter franchise,

then one quintessentially British shop, Cool Britannia, 

with its Union Jack covered scooter,

Brasenose Lane, a lane with just a touch of history,

on our last visit here in May 2016,

we did not allow enough time to visit the gardens, 

so with that in mind,

we started to walk towards Rose Lane, passing this doorway,

with it's impressive coat of arms above it,

I nearly missed it in St. Marys Passage,

this water pump, I have no idea how old it is 200 or 300 years?

a sign to be proud of,

going since 1654, some counties are younger than that!

looking across to the other side of the road as we walked,

the gardens are on the High Street,

almost opposite Magdalen College, just before Magdalen Bridge, 

in Rose Lane,

on the right as you go in some administration buildings,

and this grave marker, the Jewish Cemetery was set up on areas of land the medieval Oxford Jews purchased shortly after 1177, which were in fact water meadows by the Cherwell river, the land is now owned by Magdalen College and the Botanic Gardens, in 2016 Human Bones were found in Magdalen College Land during building work,

the entrance is to the left of the main gate,

I just had to,

as did Diana,

as we entered on the left a small citrus greenhouse,

we walked past it to the toilets,

which were bedside the river,

no punters today,

the citrus house is beside some of the larger houses,

looking towards the main gardens,

now time to go inside,

as well as citrus there were a number of ferns like this one,

a maiden hair fern,

there was a delightful aroma in the air, Diana tracked it down, 

to this lily,

one of the larger citrus plants,

there were flowers there as well,

like this pot of mini daffodils,

huge lemons,

under the staging,

some Natal lilies, (Clivia minata),

looking nice in flower,

as well as these ornamental begonias,

we left the citrus house,

walking by the river,

stopping along the way,

to look at the end of one of the hot houses,

one of the few that have a life preserver on it!

by now,

we were blessed with clear blue skies, but still bitingly cold in the wind,

at the end of one of the houses I noticed these,

I assume they are a type of iris, whatever they are they looked so unusual,

we went into the greenhouse on the right,

all one way, with houses leading off on the right,

I just had to!

the first the carnivorous plants,

with an explanation about them,

the trouble is,

we were spoilt at the last week on our trip to Kew Gardens,

where they had a huge selection of insectivorous plants,

unfortunately the tropical water lily houses was out of bounds,

so we continued our walk,

back outside to the next hot houses,

which strangely enough had some more insectivorous plants,

monkey cups, (Nepenthes), as it happens,

the cups on the plants here,

were huge,

as well as being different form some of the others we had seen before,

and here you can read all about them,

into the next house which was a alpine house,

I am not going to try and even guess what this is,

all I can say is it looks pretty unusual,

especially the flower,

I was tempted to think that these were daffodils,

perhaps they are,

but I can not recollect seeing two or three heads on one stem,

into the next house,

the sign says it all,

again a walk way connecting each house, but this time the houses leading off from the left,

and nice they were too,

all you need to know,

Diana getting down to earth,

the path inside the house a circular route,

a new one for Diana, cotton,

although a lot smaller than Kew,

the plants here were really packed in,

we were both thoroughly enjoying ourselves,

back out into the corridor, Diana posed by this vine I think it is,

that had these really nice medium,

and light blue fluffy flowers on it,

into the hot desert house,

some old favorites here,

like the barrel cactus, (Echinocactus grusonii),

also here there were a number of euphorbias,

they were huge,

the base of the plants 18" or so across,

this aloe,

putting up a spike taller than me,

back into the corridor, but before retuning outside I noticed these, 

the seeds of Natal lilies, (Clivia minata),that we had seen earlier in the citrus house, I am stopping this post now, if you want to see the rest of our day in Oxford please click the 'Older Posts' button at the bottom right of the page.