Durham University, Visitor Attractions

Don’t forget to head on over and like our new page, DU Things To Do to keep up to date with everything that’s going on across our museums, galleries and gardens! 🥳www.facebook.com/DUThingsToDo/

To find out more about our venues, visit our website: https://www.dur.ac.uk/attractions/

📢 Update to Facebook account

Our visitor attractions’ Facebook accounts have now joined forces on our new page, Durham University Things To Do! https://www.facebook.com/DUThingsToDo/

A one-stop shop for everything happening across our attractions, making it much easier for you to find out about all our venues in just one place 😊

Make sure to head over and like our page to keep up to date with all our exciting news and events at:

➡️ Botanic Gardens
➡️ Durham Castle Tours
➡️ Oriental Museum
➡️ Museum of Archaeology
➡️ Cosin’s Library

A huge thank you for following us and see you over on https://www.facebook.com/DUThingsToDo 🥳

📣 Update to Facebook account 📣

From next week, our visitor attractions’ Facebook accounts are joining forces on our new page, Durham University Things To Do!

This will be a one-stop shop for everything happening across our attractions, making it much easier for you to keep up to date with exciting news and events at all our venues, including:

➡️ Botanic Gardens
➡️ Durham Castle Tours
➡️ Oriental Museum
➡️ Museum of Archaeology
➡️ Cosin’s Library

Stay tuned for more information next week! 😊

To find out more about all our venues, visit our website: https://www.dur.ac.uk/attractions/

Please note that the Botanic Garden will be closed on Monday 16 January due to a private event taking place.

The Botanic Garden will reopen at 10am on Tuesday 17 January.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this closure.

If you have any queries, please call 0191 334 2887 or email [email protected].

Palace Green Library (including the Visitor Centre) will be closed Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 January due to an issue with the heating inside the building. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and will reopen Monday 9 January at 10am. Oriental Museum is open 12.00-17.00 this weekend (7-8 January).

This is DurhamDurham UniversityDurham University LibraryDurham CathedralPalace Green Library

Please note that the Botanic Garden will be closed from 4pm on Wednesday 21st December and will be reopening at 10am on Tuesday 3rd January 2023.

We hope you all have a great Christmas and we wish you all the best for the new year!

Our rare breed sheep, Manx Loughtan & Hebridean, are ‘Conservation grazing’ in the North American Arboretum at the Botanic Garden throughout December.

On Wednesday 30 November between 2.30pm and 3.30pm, there will be no power in the Visitor Centre or Greenhouses. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause whilst essential work takes place in the sub-station.

On Wednesday 9th November at the Botanic Garden, our Friends of the Garden, Gardeners and helpers from Marie Curie Cancer Support planted almost 2,000 daffodil bulbs which were kindly donated by Pity Me Nursery to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the charity. The bulbs were planted on the grass bank in our car park to create a ‘Durham Field of Hope’.

Thank you to the Durham University Retail Office for adding our Christmas stock in the Visitor Centre cafe area.

Why not come to visit the Botanic Garden and check out the latest merchandise that we have to offer!

We have just finished planting the last of our bulbs at the Botanic Garden for next spring.

Our gardeners have been spacing out 2500 Tulip ‘Fosteriana mixed’ bulbs in the long bed outside our greenhouse, which should make for a fantastic show of colour in the spring of 2023.

Thousands of various bulbs have been planted such as Tulips, Crocus, Daffodils, Alliums, Hyacinths, Crocus & Fritillarias throughout the garden.

From 1 November 2022, children under 16 years will no longer have to pay to enter the gardens, and Durham University campus card holders will continue to get free entry. Due to the fact that we have not changed prices in many years, the entry fee for Adults and Concessions has risen by a small amount, the new pricing is below.

Adult: £5.00
Concession: £4.50
Students with valid NUS card/Children (5-16 years): Free
Infants: Free
Carers: Free
Durham University Campus Card holders: Free

The Autumn colour at the Botanic Garden on the various trees are looking great right now, especially in our North American Arboretum!

There is a smell of caramel from the leaves under the Cercidiphyllum japonicum (Katsura tree) on the Oriental lawn.

This time of the year is perfect to spot lots of different Fungi around the Botanic Garden.

Come and explore to see how many different types you can find before they all disappear again!

We're really excited to announce our first event in the 2022/3 WHS lecture series! 🎉🎉
Join us on 11/10 to hear John Scott, Coordinator for Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site, giving his insights into being part of a serial WHS nomination https://tinyurl.com/395vjzu4
UNESCO in the UK World Heritage UK This is Durham Durham University LibraryDurham Castle Museum and Tours Durham CathedralDurham University Archaeology Department Palace Green Library Museum of Archaeology, Durham University

We are pleased to announce that the Botanic Garden has received a Gold Medal in the Tourist and Visitor attraction, and Country Estate category at the 2022 Northumbria In Bloom Awards.

It was awarded on Wednesday 28th September at the awards ceremony in the Fed, Gateshead.

Congratulations to all of our staff as it acknowledges all the hard work they put in throughout the year!

Diwali Celebrations

Saturday, 5 November 2022,
6.00 – 8.00pm
ORIENTAL MUSEUM

Join us for a spectacular Diwali celebration open to all.

There will be traditional prayers to the goddess Lakshmi, delicious vegetarian snacks to try and arts and craft activities. Visitors will also have the chance to see a Rajasthani-style puppet show performance inspired by Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, art and music.

There will also be a musical performance featuring vocals, tabla and harmonium.

Tickets are FREE, but limited, so booking is essential. To book tickets and for information on event parking and access information follow our Eventbrite link.

If you need any further information, please contact [email protected]

We hope you can join us!

Diwali Celebrations at the Oriental Museum 2022 Join us for a spectacular FREE evening Diwali celebration at the Oriental Museum featuring a traditional Lakshmi puja, food and much more.

The date of the State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen is Monday 19 September 2022. This will be a Bank Holiday.

In line with U.K. Government guidelines, the University has taken the decision to close on that day. This will include our libraries, study spaces and public venues.

Other than Monday 19 September, our University remains open and will operate as usual. For the latest updates, please visit the University webpages:

Her Majesty The Queen - Durham University We are deeply saddened at the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Our thoughts are with members of the Royal Family at this time.

Super Saturday World Heritage Celebrations Book for a free guided tour and enjoy the family events taking place celebrating Durham and the World Heritage Site!

Join storyteller, Elizabeth Baker, for a story-walk around the Botanic Garden today from 11am to 3pm. As we walk, Elizabeth will tell stories and legends from some of the countries the wonderful plants in our gardens are from. After the walk we'll head back to the greenhouse to create our own legends.

Get interactive with our Crazy Creatures who are visiting the Botanic Garden until 3pm today.

Animal encounters with rabbits, snakes, spiders and other animals to enjoy.

We recommend visitors park at the Park and Ride and use the kiosk entrance.

Normal admission charges apply and there are no additional charges for participating in this event.

Palace Green Library, including the World Heritage Site Visitor Centre, Museum of Archaeology, DLI Gallery and Cosin’s Library will be closed on Wednesday 17th August for essential maintenance to be carried out.
We will reopen at 10am Thursday 18th August, see you then!

This is DurhamDurham CathedralDurham UniversityDurham PointersWorld Heritage UKDurham Castle Museum and ToursMuseum of Archaeology, Durham University

The annual Teddy Bear's Picnic will take place at the Botanic Garden on Monday 15 August from 10am to 4pm. From story-telling to bear-related crafts, from the most-loved bear competition to the popular teddy trail, join us for a fun filled day. Bring your own teddy.

Yesterday saw our Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria Araucana), a native of the Andes mountains in South America & our most famous tree in the garden felled in the Botanic Garden.

Unfortunately our lovely Monkey Puzzle tree showed sign of die-back and by the end of 2020 was clearly dead. This sudden demise is common in these trees in the UK.

However it’s not all bad, the team have a replacement planted nearby, and several planted in our pinetum (no29 on our map) grown from seed collected from wild trees in Chile.

It was expected that the tree was rotten inside however the team got a surprise when sections started to be cut as it’s not, so lengths have been cut to salvage some of the timber. It has been planned for a mobile sawmill to come in to the garden and plank the trunk in the near future, where discs will be cut for educational purposes and hopefully the team can create a timeline from the remaining trunk!