At first glance, the University of Oxford Botanic Garden seems to fit the generic framework of an aesthetically pleasing garden. The main part of the garden is located within a beautiful wall akin to the yellow-hued stonework throughout Oxford. Seen from outside the garden, this wall and its large arched gate suggest that the garden is valued with the same sophistication and respect as the rest of the University. After visiting, I believe this regal entrance suits the Oxford Botanic Garden well. Its extraordinary quantity of plant life both indoors and outdoors, combined with its park-like atmosphere make it a sight to be seen during a visit to Oxford.
Although the Botanic Garden seems to be the perfect recipe for a “stuffy” atmosphere, the pamphlet visitors receive as their ticket upon entering the garden suggests otherwise. While I call it a pamphlet, this enormous piece of paper is rather like a large amusement park map. It is nearly three times the size of an ordinary pamphlet, and has all the colors of the rainbow. Furthermore, its title does not focus on the uninteresting name of the Botanic Garden, but instead it centers on the experience that the garden tourism folk want the visitors to have on what they call “The Healing Power of Plants Trail.” Beside this red, blue, and green colored title is a small map of the garden with sectional labels, and below it are fun and colorful facts and images about the variety of medicinal plant life in the garden. Upon observing this pamphlet, it is clear that the garden planner’s goal was: make this visit exciting.
In addition to educating its visitors and providing a small respite of peace in a stressful academic environment, the Oxford Botanic Garden successfully leaves its visitors with a fun experience. This garden does it all: it relaxes the student while making learning fun! The organized, yet open layout of the garden almost inspires its visitors to skip down its orthogonally planned paths through a world class variety of trees and plants, past an idyllic fountain, out the garden walls to a second garden, and along the river to the glasshouses. The fantastic variety of plants – many of which are kept in the glasshouses – make the visitor feel like she is traveling around the world through everything from desert to rainforest. Also, rather than using lawns as decoration, the garden encourages people to walk on lawns on their way to observe plants. Each plant variety, in fact, has its own label with scientific name, colloquial name, and geographic origin. Thus, the style of learning in the Oxford Botanic Garden is extremely interactive, and encourages students to become personal with what they are learning. Moreover, in addition to encouraging a hands-on educational experience, these lawns encourage relaxation. Numerous people, myself included, used the lawns for studying, drawing, and even napping among the plant life.
The University of Oxford Botanic Garden seems to boast an educational experience that, from my experience thus far, is hard to find at the University. The first thing that stood out to me (as you may have already noticed) is the idea that people can walk on the lawns. In Magdalen alone, most lawns are present for decoration, and few are present for student use. Between the lawns, the walls, the doors, and tradition-based rules, I have the impression that the University of Oxford is a very restricted environment. However, this Botanic Garden, which itself is part of the University, seems to contrast this restrictiveness by allowing visitors to freely engage with everything it has to offer. Essentially, nothing is off limits. Aside from the two people collecting money at the entrance, there is no supervision in the garden or the glasshouses. Visitors of any age or status are left to their own devices within this educational arena, whether they choose to use it for educational purposes or not. What’s more, by giving people this freedom, the Garden does a remarkable job of making people feel relaxed and comfortable in a way that other educational setting (ex. the library, the classroom, etc.) do not.
The University of Oxford Botanic Garden represents what is, in my opinion, the ideal learning experience. It combines education with freedom, makes its visitors feel comfortable, and most of all, it is fun. This “learning is fun” philosophy is something I think is extremely undervalued in education, and I commend the Botanic Garden for taking it to heart and making it a reality.
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