Ness Botanic Gardens

About the garden

Owned by

Kate Hotson

Based on the Wirral peninsula, Ness Botanic Gardens was born of one man's passionate interest in plants and his desire to share that interest with others. Today the commitment to maintain, develop and share the beauty of the gardens that Arthur Kilpin Bulley created over 100 years ago remains.

Explore the delights of Ness Botanic Gardens spread across 64 acres with lovely views of the River Dee and North Wales. Ness Gardens features a diverse variety of plants and planting areas. Constantly changing, there are always new things to see at Ness, including vibrant year-round colour and outstanding collections of rhododendrons, camellias, snowdrops and Sorbus, among others.

When the Liverpool cotton merchant Arthur Kilpin Bulley began to create a garden in 1898, he laid the foundations of one of the major botanic gardens in the UK. After his death, Bulley's daughter Lois presented the gardens to the University of Liverpool in 1948 with an endowment of £75,000. There is a stipulation that they are kept as a botanic garden as a practical and fitting tribute to the memory of her father. Bulley's policy of opening a specified area of ornamental ground to the public was also to be continued.