On a spectacularly sunny day in June a friend and I travelled to Ryton Organic Gardens, near Coventry. She’d heard about the gardens because of the on site vegetarian/vegan café and we thought it would make for a good day out.
Opened in 1986 we both agreed that the entrance fee of £5.50 (with Gift Aid) was well worth the price given the range of gardens on display over 10 acres.
The purpose of the gardens, under its umbrella of Garden Organic, Europe’s largest organic charity, is to promote and protect plant heritage. The individual gardens each have a different purpose, such as the Memorial Garden which has plants specifically chosen for their smell and texture for people with visual impairment and the Cooks Garden, where every plant is edible.
We also had lunch in Fusca Cafe which was delicious. We shared a plate of woodland mushroom, spinach and roasted red pepper pakoras (served with citrus salad raw slaw, carrot ceviche, sweet chilli dressing and yoghurt) and Mediterranean vegetable and feta tart (served with basically the same sides as the pakoras), all of which tasted delicious, and looked just as nice.
I would defintely recommend both the gardens and the cafe. We were there for around 3½ hours in total which was plenty of time for lunch and to explore the gardens.
You can find many more photos of the gardens here.
Louise Jayne's Blog 