We have created three trails that explore the built and natural heritage of Sydney Gardens.
Collect printed leaflets in Sydney Gardens from the perspex boxes by the noticeboard at the park entrance behind the Holburne, or use these in-depth online versions.
The History and Heritage of Sydney Gardens
Explore over 200 years of history by following this trail around the park, from when Sydney Gardens opened in 1795 as a Georgian Pleasure Garden to the contemporary public park. Open our mobile-friendly online 'Heritage of Sydney Gardens' Trail.
Jane Austen in Sydney Gardens
Explore Jane Austen's relationship with the Georgian Pleasure Gardens. Jane lived just across the road at No 4 Sydney Place between 1801 and 1804 and wrote of Sydney Gardens both in letters and several of her novels (Persuasion and Northanger Abbey). Diana White, an author, historian and journalist, has written this trail as a volunteer on our restoration project, helping us to imagine both the time and the place from Jane's perspective. Open our mobile-friendly online 'Jane Austen in Sydney Gardens' Trail.
Sydney Gardens Tree Trail
Open the Sydney Gardens Bath Tree Trail.pdf and find the amazing trees in the park.
Each of the featured trees has a QR code on the tree which takes you to more information about the species. The Tree Trail has been developed by the Friends of Sydney Gardens and written by Gill Gazzard from personal research with additional data from an Arboreal Assessment by Bosky Trees for the Sydney Gardens Project in 2020, B&NES Tree Team, and by Richard S White.
Read more about one of our special trees The Peace Oak - open the online digital PDF here.
Sydney Gardens: a walking tour reflecting on botany, empire, and deep time
Read Richard S White's fascinating research on our Medium blog and find out the extraordinary and important cultural connections to other places around the world that are revealed through the trees. Richard is a writer, lecturer at BSU and an artist. As part of his Walk Now project, Richard led some public walking investigations around Sydney Gardens in 2019 as part of our project. We commissioned Richard to extend that research around some selected trees in Sydney Gardens as part of our interpretation of the park.
