A 75-minute stroll with Oxford local historian and author Mark Davies focusing on some of the charismatic, eccentric, and ‘ground-breaking’ individuals who have graced the Garden over the last four centuries. From the Garden’s flamboyant first superintendent, Jacob Bobart, ‘the German Prince of Plants’, and his remarkable descendants; through the unlikely hosting of some of Britain’s earliest hot air balloon launches; to Philip Pullman’s ‘Lyra’; via Lewis Carroll and a host of other quirky or evocative writers, visitors, and events. A 400-year literary and historical wander through an innovative botanical wonder.
