Botanic Gardens
Fifty acres inside a bend of the Avon, with oaks planted in 1863.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs 30 min
Best time
In the morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The gardens were founded in 1863 by the planting of a single English oak, to mark a royal wedding — the tree is still there. They cover twenty-one hectares inside a loop of the Avon, which encloses them almost entirely.
Christchurch was founded as an English town and the gardens say so: rose garden, rock garden, Victorian glasshouses, and exotic trees planted in the nineteenth century that have had a hundred and sixty years to grow. Entry is free, and the punting on the Avon starts from the bank.
Getting there
Rolleston Avenue, right on the edge of the city centre. The heritage tram stops at the Canterbury Museum, by the gate.
Rules on site
The park closes at dusk, with hours that change by season. The glasshouses keep their own, shorter hours.
