Cambridge College Gardens
Cambridge’s colleges are famous worldwide, but while most visitors explore their historic buildings, fewer discover their spectacular gardens. From hidden courts within ancient colleges to botanical treasures collected over centuries, Cambridge’s college gardens offer some of Britain’s finest horticultural experiences.
This guide reveals Cambridge’s college gardens beyond the famous, explaining what makes each special and where to find these hidden botanical gems.
Understanding Cambridge College Gardens
Cambridge’s colleges developed gardens over centuries, with various purposes:
Physic gardens: Medicinal herbs used by college medics and scholars.
Kitchen gardens: Vegetables and fruits for college dining halls.
Ornamental gardens: Beauty and contemplation spaces for scholars.
Botanical collections: Plants collected from across Britain and the world for study.
Monastic influence: Some colleges (formerly monasteries) have garden traditions from pre-college days.
What makes Cambridge college gardens special is their variety—from ancient medieval survivals to Victorian extravagances, from modest courtyard gardens to substantial botanical collections.
Essential College Gardens to Visit
1. Trinity College Wren Library Garden
Trinity College’s Wren Library garden is perhaps Cambridge’s most spectacular college garden, hidden behind Sir Christopher Wren’s magnificent library. The garden features a sunken lawn, beautiful trees, and atmospheric planting.
What makes the Wren Library garden special is its hidden nature and atmospheric setting. The garden is invisible from the main college courts, creating a secret garden feeling that’s genuinely magical. The combination of Wren’s architecture with the garden is extraordinary.
Location: Trinity College, CB2 1TQ
Access: Check with Trinity College (gardens sometimes closed during exam periods)
Opening: Variable (check college website)
Cost: Free when open (usually included with college tours)
What to expect: Sunken lawn, mature trees, atmospheric planting, Wren Library backdrop. Allow 20-30 minutes.
Hidden gem status: Few visitors discover this garden, making it a genuine Cambridge secret.
2. Newnham College Gardens
Newnham College has perhaps Cambridge’s most famous college gardens, spectacularly landscaped across spacious grounds. The gardens include formal areas, wilder plantings, and remarkable trees collected over centuries.
What makes Newnham’s gardens special is their scale and variety. The college’s extensive grounds include formal gardens near the main building, more naturalistic plantings elsewhere, and some of Cambridge’s oldest and most interesting trees.
Location: Newnham College, CB3 9DF
Access: Public access during opening hours (check restrictions)
Opening: Generally daily when college is open (varies by term)
Cost: Free (donations welcome)
What to expect: Formal gardens, wilder areas, remarkable trees, extensive grounds. Allow 45 minutes-1 hour.
Trees: Look for the famous Newnham plane tree and other remarkable specimens.
3. Clare College Gardens
Clare College has beautiful gardens that are surprisingly quiet considering the college’s central location. The gardens include formal plantings, wilder areas, and some spectacular specimen trees.
What makes Clare’s gardens special is their intimacy and comparative quiet. The college’s gardens are less visited than Newnham’s or Trinity’s, creating a more contemplative garden experience away from crowds.
Location: Clare College, CB2 1TL
Access: College gardens (check with porter’s lodge)
Opening: Variable (check with college)
Cost: Generally free when accessible
What to expect: Intimate gardens, specimen trees, quiet atmosphere. Allow 30-45 minutes.
Comparative quiet: Clare’s central location means it should be crowded, but the gardens remain surprisingly peaceful.
4. Jesus College Gardens
Jesus College has beautiful gardens that combine formal and wilder elements. The college’s gardens include formal areas near the main building, extensive lawns, and some remarkable trees collected over centuries.
What makes Jesus’s gardens special is their combination of formality and wildness. The gardens have formal areas with structured planting, but also wilder spaces that feel like natural woodlands, creating variety within one college’s grounds.
Location: Jesus College, CB5 8BL
Access: College gardens (check with porter’s lodge)
Opening: Variable (check with college)
Cost: Generally free when accessible
What to expect: Formal gardens, wilder areas, lawns, specimen trees. Allow 45 minutes-1 hour.
Variety: The combination of different garden styles makes Jesus College particularly interesting.
Hidden College Garden Gems
5. St John’s College Grove
St John’s College has a beautiful grove that’s surprisingly quiet for a college so close to the city centre. The grove features mature trees, wilder planting, and a peaceful atmosphere that feels miles from busy Cambridge.
What makes St John’s grove special is its comparative obscurity and wildness. Unlike more formal college gardens, the grove feels more like a natural woodland, creating a genuine escape from the city.
Location: St John’s College, CB2 1TP
Access: College grove (check with porter’s lodge)
Opening: Variable (check with college)
Cost: Generally free when accessible
What to expect: Wilder garden with mature trees, peaceful atmosphere. Allow 30-45 minutes.
Wildness: The grove’s more naturalistic planting feels genuinely wild compared to more formal college gardens.
6. Magdalene College Gardens
Magdalene College has beautiful gardens that include formal areas, wilder plantings, and connections to the River Cam. The college’s gardens combine college garden traditions with riverside planting.
What makes Magdalene’s gardens special is their riverside location. The college’s gardens extend to the river, where traditional waterside planting combines with college garden traditions, creating something unique to Magdalene.
Location: Magdalene College, CB3 0AF
Access: College gardens (check with porter’s lodge)
Opening: Variable (check with college)
Cost: Generally free when accessible
What to expect: Formal gardens, wilder areas, riverside planting. Allow 45 minutes-1 hour.
Riverside connection: The connection to the River Cam adds something special to Magdalene’s gardens.
7. Christ’s College Gardens
Christ’s College has beautiful but relatively small gardens that maximise impact in limited space. The college’s gardens include formal plantings, specimen trees, and clever use of limited space.
What makes Christ’s gardens special is their compactness and efficiency. The college’s gardens use limited space brilliantly, creating maximum garden impact in minimal area, demonstrating clever garden design.
Location: Christ’s College, CB2 3BU
Access: College gardens (check with porter’s lodge)
Opening: Variable (check with college)
Cost: Generally free when accessible
What to expect: Compact but beautiful gardens, clever use of space. Allow 20-30 minutes.
Compact design: The gardens demonstrate how much can be achieved in limited space with clever design.
Botanical and Scientific Gardens
8. Cambridge University Botanic Garden
While not technically a college garden, Cambridge University Botanic Garden has close connections to colleges and is essential understanding for any Cambridge garden enthusiast. The garden was founded in 1762 and has one of Britain’s finest plant collections.
What makes the Botanic Garden special is its scientific importance and spectacular plant collection. The garden was founded for teaching and research, with plants collected from across the world for study. Today it remains an important research institution while being open to the public.
Location: Bateman Street, CB2 1JF
Opening: Daily 10am-6pm (April-September), 10am-5pm (October-March)
Cost: Approximately £8 adult, £6 concession, £4 child
What to expect: 40 acres of gardens, plant collections, glasshouses. Allow 1-2 hours.
Scientific importance: The garden’s research continues today, making it a living scientific institution.
9. Selwyn College Gardens
Selwyn College has gardens that reflect its Victorian foundation and modern traditions. The college’s gardens include formal plantings, wilder areas, and interesting trees.
What makes Selwyn’s gardens special is their combination of Victorian and modern planting. The college was founded in Victorian times, but the gardens have evolved with modern horticultural developments, creating a unique blend.
Location: Selwyn College, CB3 9DQ
Access: College gardens (check with porter’s lodge)
Opening: Variable (check with college)
Cost: Generally free when accessible
What to expect: Formal and modern garden areas, specimen trees. Allow 30-45 minutes.
Evolution: The gardens show how college gardens have evolved from Victorian times to today.
10. Churchill College Gardens
Churchill College has modern gardens that reflect its relatively recent foundation (1960s) but incorporate mature trees and interesting planting. The college’s gardens include formal areas and more naturalistic plantings.
What makes Churchill’s gardens special is their modern design. Unlike older colleges with centuries of garden development, Churchill’s gardens were designed as a complete garden from the college’s foundation, creating something distinctive.
Location: Churchill College, CB3 0DS
Access: College gardens (check with porter’s lodge)
Opening: Variable (check with college)
Cost: Generally free when accessible
What to expect: Modern garden design, mature trees, varied plantings. Allow 30-45 minutes.
Modern design: The gardens show contemporary college garden design rather than historical evolution.
College Garden Features to Look For
Specimen trees: Many colleges have remarkable trees collected over centuries. Look for unusual species, particularly old specimens with interesting histories.
Formal vs. wilder planting: Most colleges have both formal areas and wilder, more naturalistic plantings, creating variety within one college.
Water features: Several colleges have ponds, streams, or water features integrated into their gardens.
Seasonal interest: College gardens are designed to provide interest throughout the year, with different plants featuring in different seasons.
Architectural features: College gardens incorporate historic buildings, walls, and gates, creating garden rooms and framed views.
College Garden Photography Tips
Wren Library garden: The hidden nature and Wren’s architecture create spectacular photography opportunities.
Newnham gardens: The scale and variety of Newnham’s gardens offer excellent photography with different focal lengths.
Spring colour: Many college gardens have spectacular spring colour with bulbs and blossom.
Autumn colour: Autumn colour on college trees is spectacular, particularly against historic buildings.
Architectural backdrops: College buildings provide spectacular backdrops for garden photography.
College Garden Etiquette
Respect privacy: Colleges are living communities, not museums. Respect students’ privacy and study.
Keep quiet: Many students study near gardens. Keep voices down, especially during exam periods.
Don’t block paths: Garden paths are narrow. Don’t block access with photography or lingering.
Follow college rules: Each college has its own rules. Follow them when visiting gardens.
Seasonal College Garden Visits
Spring (March-May): Bulbs, blossom, emerging foliage. Many gardens at their most colourful.
Summer (June-August): Lush growth, flowers, long daylight. Best weather for garden visits.
Autumn (September-November): Spectacular autumn colour on trees. Good light for photography.
Winter (December-February): Skeleton trees, structural elements, winter interest. Some gardens less accessible.
Combining College Gardens with Other Cambridge
College buildings: Visit college interiors and buildings alongside gardens for complete college experiences.
Punting: Combine garden visits with punting on the River Cam (see guide on Cambridge punting).
Walking: Cambridge’s city centre walkable with many colleges accessible on foot.
Pubs and cafes: Many colleges have pubs and cafes nearby for garden visit refreshments.
A Final Thought
Cambridge’s college gardens offer some of Britain’s finest horticultural experiences, yet many visitors never discover them. From the hidden Wren Library garden at Trinity to the spectacular Newnham grounds, from intimate college groves to scientific botanical collections, Cambridge’s gardens are extraordinary.
The key to enjoying Cambridge’s college gardens is understanding what you’re seeing. These aren’t just decorative spaces but have specific histories, purposes, and botanical significance. Some gardens reflect medieval traditions, others Victorian or modern developments.
College gardens show that Cambridge isn’t just about historic buildings and academic excellence—it’s also about centuries of horticultural development and botanical research. The gardens are as much part of Cambridge’s identity as its famous colleges.
So explore Cambridge’s college gardens, discover hidden gems, and understand why these spaces are as important to Cambridge as its libraries, laboratories, and lecture halls. The gardens represent centuries of horticultural tradition and botanical research that continues today.
This guide reveals Cambridge’s college gardens beyond the famous, from Trinity’s hidden Wren Library garden to Newnham’s spectacular grounds, from intimate college groves to scientific botanical collections. Cambridge’s college gardens represent centuries of horticultural tradition and are as important to the university’s identity as its famous colleges and academic institutions.