On days when we don’t fancy venturing far from home, we occasionally pop along to Durham Botanic Gardens for a visit.

Situated not too far outside of Durham, the gardens are part of the University and cover 10 hectares. Now I’m one for gardening as a rule and all the different plants are a little mind boggling but as somewhere to go for a walk and take in a bit of wildlife, we find the gardens a great place to visit.

Now with a double buggy and 2 young children in tow, accessibility is always something we consider. There are baby changing facilities in the disabled toilet in the main entrance. We managed to fit the double buggy through all the doors we came across and around most of the site without much difficulty. There are some areas where the buggy won’t go such as in the cactus area of the greenhouse and the steps near the winter garden, but the map provided on arrival, clearly shows where steps, steep slopes and disabled access routes are.

We first visited the Botanic Gardens in June 2010 when Zara was around 7 months old and used our Snugbaby sling to carry her around most of the site.

Zara aged 7 months exploring the Cactus House with Daddy

Piggy back with Mummy!

It’s strange looking back at photos from that visit and comparing them to this time…

Back then Zara was obsessed with the giant water lilies and the water!

and some things never change...

Zara loves the rainforest area in the greenhouses, you can press a button to get rain which always pleases her :)

Wow it's raining!

And although we started off exploring the site with them both in the double buggy, Zara soon decided she wanted to walk instead.

Checking out the Millenium Bugs

Checking out the scary giant rhubarb thingys with Daddy

And of course, more water to investigate

No visit to the Botanic Gardens is complete without a quick visit to the bird hide to check out the birdies. I say quick because a) we like to check there are no other people in there that Zara might disturb with her excitement and b) we don’t like to disturb the birds and rabbits etc for too long.

oooh there is a bunny over there mummy!

After working up an appetite we stopped for lunch at the visitor centre. They have a limited range of food available but sandwiches and cakes are always available and very tasty along with a nice big mug of tea :)

We love the Botanic Gardens and think they are definitely worth at least one visit. We will no doubt be heading back in the autumn when all the leaves are changing colour as it will be gorgeously pretty then :)