The Upper Gardens are the furthest inland, and by far the wildest, stretch of Bournemouth's celebrated chain of Victorian pleasure gardens. Where the Central and Lower Gardens nearer the seafront feel like manicured town parks, the Upper Gardens shift into something closer to a woodland nature trail, following the Bourne stream up through Westbourne towards Coy Pond.
History
The land was originally leased as a private garden to the Durrant family from the 1860s, but the ground was notoriously boggy, more marsh than garden, and had to be drained using shingle and broken pottery from a local clay works before planting could begin in earnest. The lease passed to Bournemouth Council, and the Bournemouth Improvement Commissioners transformed the valley into a public pleasure ground between 1871 and 1889, adding the first of its exotic trees. Together with the Central and Lower Gardens, the Upper Gardens are registered as a Grade II Park and Garden, part of the wider scheme first advised on by the architect Decimus Burton as Bournemouth grew into a Victorian health resort.
What to see & do
The planting here is arranged loosely into European, Asian and North American sections, rhododendrons, oaks and silver birches; Japanese acers, bamboo and Persian ironwoods; pines and a towering Giant Redwood said to be among the largest in the country. Ornamental red bridges cross the Bourne stream, and a red-brick, Gothic-style water tower, built between 1883 and 1903 to pump water to a fountain via a waterwheel, still stands as a local landmark, now used by roosting bats rather than machinery. Further along, boardwalks carry the path over marshy ground to a set of ornamental rockeries and on to Coy Pond, where the gardens meet the Poole boundary.
Visiting
The Upper Gardens are open access, free to enter, and easily combined with a longer walk along the whole gardens chain. The lower paths are paved and straightforward, but expect boggier, less formal going, and boardwalks rather than tarmac, as you approach the rockery and Coy Pond end, which can be tricky for wheelchairs and pushchairs.
They connect directly to the Central Gardens, which in turn lead down towards the Lower Gardens and the pier. For more green spaces and walks around the bay, see our guide to things to do in Bournemouth.
