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�鶹��ý recommends: The Poison Garden near Alnwick Castle

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By Tiffany O'Callaghan

16 August 2023

4th July 2024 The Alnwick Garden, Alnwick, Northumberland, England, UK. Image shows gardeners Amy Thorp and Joe Savage unveiling the Gympie Gympie plant in the Poison Garden at The Alnwick Garden. The boundaries of the Poison Garden are kept behind black iron gates, only open on guided tours. A combination of dark, ivy-covered tunnels and flame-shaped beds creates an educational garden full of interest and intrigue, where the most dangerous plants are kept within giant cages. Visitors can learn about the poisonous plants but are strictly prohibited from touching them. Info from press release The most venomous of all plants arrives at Alnwick???s Poison Garden The Alnwick Garden???s award-winning Poison Garden is unveiling a stinger of a new addition this week with its home grown native Australian plant, Gympie Gympie. Also known as the ???Australian stinging tree???, the nettle-like shrub is known as the world???s most venomous plant and is said to be capable of delivering a sting similarly to being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time. The plant is the latest to grow in the small but deadly Poison Garden at The Alnwick Garden which hosts around 100 toxic, intoxicating and narcotic plants including Laburnum, Atropa, Belladonna, Opium Poppy and Marijuana. Picture Phil Wilkinson / The Alnwick Garden — Phil Wilkinson

I moved to New York last year to help set up �鶹��ý‘s Manhattan bureau, but with lots of family and friends in the UK, we’re about to return for a visit.

We’ll be spending time in Northumberland in the north-east of England, where my 8-year-old and 5-year-old can’t wait to visit – known from the Harry Potter films and Robin Hood: Prince of thieves.

They are eager to walk its ramparts, but I’m looking forward to a wander in (pictured above), part of Alnwick Garden. There I’ll admire – from a safe…

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