Hotels near the Sheffield Botanical Gardens

Sheffield's answer to Kew Gardens, the 19-acre Botanical Gardens were originally laid out in 1836. Today, the gardens are listed by English Heritage as a Grade II site and contain three restored Victorian glass pavilions with connecting walkways. They are full of exotic warm-temperate plants from Asia, the Himalayas, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The 19 acres of sheltered gardens face south and were designed by Robert Marnock in the "Gardenesque" style. A Scottish horticulturalist, he argued plants should be able to develop to their full beauty with the space to do so - an early precursor of the English gardening style which has come to dominate horticulture today.

Running down from the pavilions is the Central Broadwalk, edged by very substantial herbaceous borders planted in the 1920s. In recent years some shrubs have been added to develop a more Christopher Lloyd-style mixed shrub border. It ends in a restored Victorian fountain.

There is a popular café in the Curator's House which becomes a romantic restaurant in the evening (closed Sun & Mon). When it's fine, you can take your tea on the patio.