A visit to the Natural History Museum Gardens

On Monday 16th December, eight of us met at South Kensington station at 2pm and headed through the underground tunnel towards the Natural History Museum.  Previously, at the 'Museums' exit, you'd climb some stairs to then walk along the road and access the museum either via the front or side entrance. Now, following a major re-work of the gardens that was completed a few months ago, the tunnel brings you straight out into a reasonably wide space at the start of the Evolution Timeline Garden, with a choice of taking a few steps up or following a zigzag pathway to explore the different areas of this section. EFOG members at the Natural History Museum GardensRocks (mostly from different regions of the UK, starting with the oldest and moving through the ages), fossils (real and brass models), plants (mostly ferns) and sculptures (dinosaurs) tell the story of the evolution of our planet, starting with the emergence of the first life forms moving through the age of the dinosaur and up to the present day; the paths take you on a 540 million year journey in about 15 minutes.

Listening to the sounds of underwater lifeI'd found an audio (presumably for visually impaired visitors) that explained what we'd be seeing in each of the two gardens that have been created and also described what was deemed the best route to follow. Even better, I found a transcript of that audio, but needed to edit it down a bit or I'd have been talking all day. Unfortunately, whilst continuing my editing on the train, I managed to delete the whole lot so we mostly just wandered, without any enlightening commentary or explanation. I remembered a few bits, so we noticed some of the brass tactile objects, depicting early life forms, that are embedded in the pathway or the rocks, saw evidence of the mosses that the NHM team are actively trying to cultivate here, saw ferns that were originally imported from Australia that can be completely dried out, transported and will start growing again if re-wetted and we also found the coppery-orange, fossilised tree trunk.  We had a group photo taken in front of 'Fern' - the name given to the Diplodocus skeleton, cast in bronze, that's in the central 'Jurassic' section. There are smaller sculptures of dinosaur skeletons nearby and also a couple of large ammonite fossils, but Fern really is quite impressive to see. 

One of the older group membersAfter a brief detour to the newly opened Garden Cafe for drinks / cakes, we finished the Evolution section, passing the winged mammals area and then following a series of metallic footprints, embedded in the path, that represent the evolution of animals and mammals through to the emergence of humans.Crossing in front of the museum entrance we then headed towards the Nature Discovery Garden. Here, there are representations of grasslands, wetlands and woodlands, a large pond and a smaller one, listening posts so that we could hear the sounds of life underwater, of ant colonies under ground, beetle larvae munching on rotting wood and of tree roots moving; there are also giant metal funnels that direct your gaze to sculptures - animals, reptiles and insects - on the museums fascade that you may otherwise not notice, plus a few viewing posts with magnified visuals of some of the insects likely to be around us. Pond viewing platformThere are also benches for those who want to sit and enjoy their surroundings and a number of wooden, curved recliners for those who really want to lie back and get in touch with nature - a couple of us tested those out. Nearby is a section that, at certain times of the year, will be grazed by sheep and close to that was an area with a net tent inside it and a warning sign telling people to keep clear "Science in progress". For us, it was a fun afternoon and interesting to wander around, but the NHM's scientists are monitoring the diversity that these gardens attract, despite it being a small space, in the middle of London, and have multiple microphones and other instruments dotted around. 

Once we'd seen as much as we could, most of us went in to the museum and had a look around the Dinosaurs section before retreating to the cafe for a well-deserved drink and piece of cake.  

A few areas, in each of the sections, were closed either for maintenance or for reasons not stated and the gardens will naturally change as plants grow and seasons change, so it's definitely worth considering a return visit at some point. 

Jill S.   19th December 2024