The world's most photogenic botanical gardens have been revealed and one from the North East has made the cut.
Ranked 24th in the world and 3rd in the UK, the Alnwick Garden only came behind Kew Gardens and the Eden Project according to a study carried out by Savoy Stewart. The commercial real estate company commissioned the data which analysed Instagram hashtags to deliver the UK-wide and global lists.
Alnwick Garden came out with 43,084 hashtags, just one spot ahead of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It was some way behind the world's top garden, Gardens by the Bay in Singapore with 1,209,129 hashtags, but that's not bad going for the Northumberland attraction, which is currently working on adding the world's largest play structure, Lilidorei, to its offering.
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Ian McAllister, marketing, communications and events manager at the Alnwick Garden, said: "It's something we're immensely proud of and it just showcases our natural beauty for everyone in the world to see. The age of a lot of the walls and the gates have got that real rustic early 1900s feel to them and they're really nice backdrops, especially when people are chucking filters on them as well."
The team at the garden are regularly contacted by influencers looking to film in the garden. However, Ian says that they are usually turned down.
He continued: "We get a lot of people contacting us to ask if they can blog from here, but we generally say no as we'd rather it (the garden's publicity) be organic. So it's nice to see that this is based on hashtags because it'll be organic rather than paid for advertising."
There are many spots throughout the garden which make for a great picture, including the grand cascade, the treehouse restaurant and the ornamental garden. But according to Ian, the best photo opportunity is only possible for around two weeks of the year in the spring.
He added: "For me, it would always be cherry blossom season which happens in April. People love to get their picture taken then on one of the swinging benches when the blossoms come into bloom."
And Instagram isn't the only app where Alnwick Garden is popular. Ian finished: "Someone in the office was on Tinder and we did notice the amount of people use the cascade on their profile is huge - I won't name the staff member though!"
Of the 70 gardens across the world that made the list, nine were in the UK, with London's Kew Gardens coming in second place. The overall winner was Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, while the top five was rounded off by Keukenhof in the Netherlands in third; Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa, Japan in fourth; and Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh, Morocco in fifth.
The UK's most Instagrammable gardens
- Kew Gardens, London
- The Eden Project, Cornwall
- Alnwick Garden, Northumberland
- Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh
- Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Birmingham
- Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge
- University of Oxford Botanic Garden, Oxford
- Sheffield Botanical Gardens, Sheffield
- National Botanic Gardens of Wales, Llanarthne
What's the best garden you've ever been to, anywhere in the world? Let us know!
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