from mid-January: New Explorer Family Backpacks available during opening hours to hire.

Starting mid January and available to hire from the Gardens' Main Reception desk every day during opening hours, there will be a series of brand new family activity backpacks on offer. Each backpack is bursting with creative activities and resources to help families to explore the Gardens and are suitable for all ages (younger ones will need adult help).

There will be three exciting and educational themes to choose from:

Brilliant Birds

Tremendous Trees

Bugs and Beasties

More themes will follow later in the year to keep the little ones entertained and make your visit extra special!

Backpacks contain an activity sheet, an answer sheet for parents/guardians, clipboard, colouring pencils and depending on the theme of your backpack, a magnifying glass, binoculars, tape measure, ID sheet or bug pot.

Hiring a backpack is easy and costs just £2 to hire (plus £8 refundable deposit). Just ask at Reception when you arrive, which themes are currently available and choose the one you want (limited availability). Each activity backpack can take up to 90 minutes to complete and aims to help families to get more of their visit.