Ventnor Botanic Gardens

It is all the more impressive when you consider that this was the site of a hospital for respiratory diseases, home to many TB sufferers in Victorian times and only converted to a Botanic Garden 27 years ago. The sub-tropical Undercliff area in which the Botanic Garden is located makes it an ideal environment for a rare collection of trees, plants and shrubs which are hard to grow elsewhere in the UK. These include the sweet-smelling clerodendron. There is also a temperate house with a selection of exotic plants. The garden's newest draw is a lottery-funded visitor centre with facilities that include interactive exhibition areas. There are plants for sale too.

Tel: 01983 855397.
Open: year round, dawn to dusk.
Admission free.