We offer tours and talks about the Gardens.
We run monthly public tours with no need to book. You can just turn up.
These are one-hour long public guided tours, taking place typically on the fourth Tuesday of the month from February to November at 1pm. For 2023 we are also piloting early evening tours in the summer, on the second Monday of the month, starting at 6pm. Public tours begin at the entrance to the Dorothy Fox Education Centre, at the top of the slope from the Thompson Road gates, off Ecclesall Road.
All tours include a range of sites in the Gardens with a special monthly focus.
We can organise tailored tours for groups.
These are 1½-hour private guided tours for groups of 10 people or more, booked at least three weeks in advance. You can choose your own date and time, with tours tailored to suit your group’s interests. Options include a general tour of the Gardens, a history tour, a guided walk around the tree collection, or one of our themed tours - Shakespeare’s Botanicals, Dyes in Nature, Potions and Poisons, Painting with Flowers. (Please note, some of these are seasonal.) The cost is £7 per person (minimum £70). All proceeds come back to the Gardens.
For more information on our tours and talks, contact us on fobs.talksandtours@gmail.com.
We also offer talks about the Gardens and other horticultural topics.
Our speakers are available to give illustrated talks to clubs, groups and societies about the plants or history of the Botanical Gardens, or a range of other topics. The cost of a talk is £70 plus any travel expenses.
For more information on our tours and talks, contact us on fobs.talksandtours@gmail.com.
Virtual tours
We are putting together a growing number of virtual tours, which you can follow from your phone around the Gardens, or enjoy on your device from the comfort of your armchair!
To learn about environmental issues, have a look at our Earthshot tour, which was developed by our curator for the 2022 Broomhill Festival.
Below are tasters of two tours of the Gardens available on the storytelling platform www.izi.TRAVEL. One looks at specimens from our wonderful tree collection; the other discovers some of the wildlife in the Gardens in Autumn. Find the full tours, with the accompanying walking maps and audio tour, via the izi.TRAVEL app. Just search for ‘Sheffield Botanical Gardens.’
In May we will be looking at plants used to make natural dyes.