The Palace Gardens and The Archbishop’s Palace

The Palace Gardens are a fantastic place to explore and discover our history through living plants. A beautiful landscape set amongst the magnificent ruins of The Archbishop’s Palace is packed with shrubs, flowering plants, mature trees and lawns. Work is underway to develop a new Physic Garden to provide visitors with the opportunity to learn more about the plants that would have been used to treat our medieval ancestors of their various maladies, from a broken heart to the plague. Garden sculptures and literature provide links to the famous ‘Leaves of Southwell’ – the 13th century carved stone leaves in the Minster’s Chapter House. The gardens encourage wildlife through the inclusion of bird boxes, insect hotels and log piles, as well as a several areas of wildflower, ensuring that our beautiful gardens are welcome to humans and wildlife alike.

Are you a keen gardener?

Find out about opportunities to help out in our beautiful gardens.

Dogs
Well behaved dogs on leads are welcome in the Minster, its grounds and gardens.

Many of our visitors are children so it is important that you pick up after your dog and place bagged waste in the bins provided. Thank you for your help in keeping the Minster a pleasant and safe environment for all who visit.