Greenwich Park
Photograph: Mark Laing / Greenwich Park
Photograph: Mark Laing / Greenwich Park

The 10 best places to see cherry blossom in the UK in 2025

Spring is here and so are the flowers, so have a look at these dazzling displays

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There’s no getting around it: winters in the UK are bleak. From October until March things are pretty much forever grey, damp and cold, and don’t get us started on the 4pm darkness. But hey, maybe it’s all worth the wait when spring shines its golden, warm(ish) rays and those pink little flowers we all know and love reawaken from their seasonal slumber. That’s right: cherry blossom season is nearly here, folks. And it’s back to save us all. 

What month is cherry blossom season in the UK?

While peak blossom season normally starts in April and lasts through May, climate change has slowly been pushing the peak back, so don’t be surprised if you stumble on full bloomin’ trees as early as mid-March. Lucky for us, the UK offers some gorgeous green spaces for cherry blossom devotees, and we’ve rounded up the best, from Scottish parks to Cumbrian castles.

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Ella Doyle is Time Out’s guides editor for the UK and Europe, based in London. At Time Out, all of our guides are written by experts. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelinesThis guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines

Where to see cherry blossom in the UK

Best for: an iconic London day out

London’s botanical HQ is packed with floral wonders come spring. Make time for its Cherry Walk, starting at the Rose Garden at the back of Palm House, which is full of Japanese cherries. Two parallel rows with 15 trees apiece form a blushing runway to Temperate House. Go in April and they’ll also be accompanied by a thousand tulips.

2. Pittencrieff Park, Dunfermline

Best for: a family day out

Known locally as ‘The Glen’, this park near Fife is a green idyll with woodland walks, tropical glasshouses and a little museum full of natural history specimens. Its cherry tree-lined avenues are a haze of pink in spring, and if you’re after even more of the Asian vibes, there’s also a Japanese Garden with a Kyoto-style bridge and summerhouse. As you wander, look out for the park’s resident peacocks – there are nine.

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3. The Stray, Harrogate

Best for: a historical stroll

You’ll find candyfloss archways of perfect blossom all over The Stray: a 200-acre stretch of parkland in Yorkshire’s regal spa town. Planted in 1953 to celebrate the Queen’s coronation, the blossoms are usually joined by patches of jewel-bright crocuses and sunshine daffodils in spring.

4. Sizergh Castle, Cumbria

Best for: catching some wildlife

The fleeting, ethereal beauty of cherry blossom deserves a grand setting, and they don’t come much more opulent than a fourteenth-century castle on the edge of the Lake District. While ‘the stumpery’ doesn’t sound particularly enthralling, that’s where you’ll find Sizergh’s colourful collection of cherry trees. Not only are they a sweet sight for the eyes, they’re also a treat for the castle’s populations of bees and songbirds, as well as badgers and voles who wolf down fruit that drops to the ground. 

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6. Trelissick Garden, Cornwall

Best for: stunning scenery 

Set on its very own peninsula with panoramic views over the Fal estuary, the air of this Cornish garden is filled with sweet wafts as the cherry and apple trees dotted around the headland burst into bloom. Capture that perfect picture at the Water Tower: a turreted cylinder that looks straight out of a fairytale and is surrounded by delicate white blossoms come April.

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7. Cathays Park, Cardiff

Best for: a spot for a picnic

In-the-know picnickers will be familiar with this little oasis smack bang in the middle of Cardiff’s Civic Centre. Filled with landscaped gardens and surrounded by majestic Portland stone buildings, including City Hall and the National Museum, this elegant park is a picturesque spot no matter what time of year. But it’s spring when it really comes into its own, when the tree-lined avenues blush pink. 

8. The Meadows, Edinburgh

Best for: a break from the hills

Unlike the much more sculpted and hilly Princes Street Gardens at the very centre of Edinburgh, this flat expanse of grass to the south of the city is special for its sheer wide-openness. That also means plenty of space for lines of cherry trees that take over the park as soon as they get their annual dusting of pink. Seeing the delicate blossom in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat is a truly jaw-dropping sight.

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9. Keele University, Staffordshire

Best for: an award-winning display

This lovely university campus claims around 600 acres of Staffordshire countryside, and it’s got cherry blossom trees in abundance. Boasting a whopping 283 varieties, the pretty pink branches can be found throughout the site in the springtime, but Cherry Tree Walk is the best spot for the display. The collection was awarded National Collection status by Plant Heritage back in 2012, and it’s not hard to see why. 

10. Dunster Castle, Somerset

Best for: a round-the-world journey

Perched on a wooded hill overlooking the Bristol Channel, Dunster Castle (which has been around since Norman times) is an impressive sight. Equally spectacular are its gardens, which take visitors through four different microclimates reflecting different areas of the world. In the River Garden – representing the UK’s own climate – you’ll find flowering cherry trees with flamingo blossoms perched beguilingly above the wild wooded undergrowth.

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