Our beautiful gardens and grounds set Worcester apart. Marvel at 26 acres of award-winning gardens and woodland, including a lake, on-site sports fields, and an historic orchard.
The gardens are unique among all the Oxford colleges in being landscaped in a naturalistic manner, formed at a time when the late ‘picturesque’ strand of the landscape garden was giving way to the more decorative approach, with shrubberies, of the Regency period. The unique lake, created 200 years ago, forms the centrepiece of the design.
Head of Gardens and Grounds, Simon Bagnall, leads the team who are responsible for preserving and improving the historic gardens. They provide this beautiful, tranquil environment for the fellows, students, staff, Old Members, conference visitors and the local community to enjoy.
A place for nature
From the Main Quad, the gardens extend south to the Nuffield Lawn, an area which has been described as an arboretum thanks to its majestic plane trees. In winter and spring you can enjoy a fabulous display of snowdrops in the Long Border – by summer it is a riot of colour, with flowering perennials and exotic-leafed plants reveling beneath the medieval Cottages.
The gardens are bounded by the Oxford Canal which feeds the lake and provides a sustainable source of irrigation in even the most severe of droughts. Before 1900, the area to the north-west of the Main Quad was a water meadow where the Provost grazed his cattle. Today it is home to our on-site sports fields – unique among Oxford colleges – and a peaceful wooded walk beside the canal.
Through the seasons
The long border in spring
One of our resident swans
Stone head in the Rose Garden
The sports pavilion
Worcester's famous snowdrops
Beehives in the Provost's Garden
Garden tour in the greenhouse
The Library from across the lake
The long border in spring
One of our resident swans
Stone head in the Rose Garden
The sports pavilion
Worcester's famous snowdrops
Beehives in the Provost's Garden
Garden tour in the greenhouse
The Library from across the lake
Biodiversity in the gardens
Our gardens team are working hard to promote biodiversity and sustainability in their practices. They’re planting diverse species of plants and trees to provide food and shelter for wildlife; creating and preserving habitats for birds, mammals and insects; and making sustainable choices by composting, reducing pesticides and investing in batter-powered machinery.
Read more about biodiversity & sustainability in the gardens
Sculpture in the gardens
Nature and art go hand in hand. We’re delighted to be the current home of Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure (1982) and Nigel Hall’s Mirrored (2011). Visit the gardens to experience these works by some of Britain’s most famous artists.
