Arts

09 Apr 09

This year's picnic season at the Botanic Garden is inspired by gardens in literature

This year’s picnic season at Oxford University’s Botanic Garden celebrates the creative energy of gardens and the natural world, whilst encouraging families to spend an inspiring afternoon in the surroundings of the UK’s oldest Botanic Garden.

The garden has always held a special place in literature – from hidden gardens to secret doorways, from giant plants to gardens that appear out of nowhere. And the Botanic Garden in Oxford is also strongly connected to literature. It was a favourite spot for the Liddell family to visit (Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland for little Lizzie Liddell); Tolkien often sat there under his favourite tree, the majestic black pine, which looks uncannily like Tree Beard the ‘Tree Ent’; and Pullman set one of the most poignant scenes in ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy on the bench under the witch-hazel, next to the Water Garden.

Therefore, this year the picnic afternoons will be full of fun outdoor activities with a literary and botanical theme. There will be live music with a folksy or story twist, promenade story sessions to join in, youngsters can sow and grow some story-inspired plants to take home, get messy in family cookery workshops or just relax in the Garden enjoying its special atmosphere.

Curator, Louise Allen said: 'Our Summer Picnic Season has become a regular feature of the Botanic Garden calendar and is a fantastic opportunity to encourage new audiences to visit the Garden. This year’s picnic season is set to be bigger and better than ever before.'

Each picnic afternoon will run from 1pm to 4pm on seven afternoons throughout the summer themed around a different text. The first one begins on Saturday 6 June and will focus on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden.

The Botanic Garden is open from May until August from 9am until 6pm and in September from 9am until 5pm.