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The Natural History Museum’s gorgeous, vast gardens have had a summer makeover, and will be opening the doors to their botanical wonderland in July. The five-acre expanse of greenery has been transformed into a trip through 2.7 billion years of history of our planet told through a timeline of plants, geology, reptiles, birds and mammals. There’s a canyon clad in ancient stone collected from across the UK, and an area filled with different biodiverse habitats and an accessible sunken pathway between ponds, which are apparently already full of frogs and newts.
Maybe most exciting though, is the installation of a huge bronze diplodocus sculpture. It looks like a lot like Dippy, the most famous dino in the land who was the museum’s star attraction up until 2017, and that’s because it is: this is a brand new cast of the enormous beast which is being placed in a Jurassic Garden, replete with all sorts of ancient flora.
Dr Alex Burch, the head of public programmes, said: ‘As well as somewhere visitors can rest, picnic and learn more about the incredible diversity of life on Earth, this spectacular new space will also be a living laboratory – a hub where Museum scientists and volunteers alike can develop best practices to protect urban nature.
‘The gardens will be home to scientific sensors gathering environmental DNA and acoustic data, to monitor, understand and protect urban nature. The installation of this new technology and continued data collection will make our gardens one of the most intensively studied urban sites of its kind.’
The Natural History Museum’s gardens open on July 18. More details here.
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