I recently saw a cache in my area that said it was placed "as there are no caches nearby", so I've decided to help my fellow Geocacher by adding some. This is part of a series of eight caches (and a bonus - note the number on the log) that I will place to highlight some hidden gems in Sketty. With that...
Swansea University Botanical Gardens
BYOP. There is swag here - please only take 1 & keep the theme..
Singleton Park is blessed with several gardens: the Ornamental Gardens, the Italian Garden (sadly increasingly in disrepair), & THE Botanic Gardens. Everyone knows THE Botanics... but it turns out that there's a hidden gem in Swansea University: ANOTHER Botanic Gardens! Seriously, even I didn't know about this one & I used to work on Singleton Campus.
The plans for a botanical garden were drawn up by the Harry-Potteresque duo of the then Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor Florence Annie Mockeridge and her successor Dr Herbert ‘Bertie’ Street. The Uni are currently restoing this site with removal of invasive species and some sprucing up: students helped build a woodland walk, leading to a meadow with bug hotels en route. There are apparently thriving banana plants in a tropical microclimate here.
Shout out to my friend PhiDude, who I'm trying to de-muggle and get back into geocaching. When I explained the idea of this series PhiDude immediately insisted that we walk down there to have a look at this potential gem. He'd spent many a happy hour smok... drin... getting... relaxing here during his student days. Much to my surprise Estates & Campus Services at the Uni have agreed to let me hide this cache.
Being on a University Campus has its perks. There's a students Union, with food, shops, toilets. There's an excellent bus service from Swansea that goes onto Mumbles and other destinations to the west of the city & back.
Muggle central during University Term, but the campus can be very quiet on a weekend outside of University terms.
Finding the cache
The cache is not at the published co-ordinates, in order to find it you'll need to visit a blue plaque & three information boards.
1) The published co-ordinates take you inside the pergola section to the north of the drive. On the western end of the pergola is a blue plaque commemorating Florence Mockeridge. She was vice principle from BCDE-FG
2) Slightly further west of the pergola is a reptillary - with no reptiles, but a noticeboard overlooking the artificial island. The noticeboard mentions that Bee Hives were installed in the year 201A.
3a) Head south from the blue plaque & cross the drive. On the board about Freshwater Habitats, freshwater accounts for which % of all species? Answer = H
3b) Also on the Freshwater Habitats board, what year was the Million Ponds Project Set up in? IJKL
4) Further down the path by the pond is The Oracle. The first phone number on The Oracle board is 01792 MNOPQR
The final cache is located at N051 NH.AFC , W003 FL.LPJ
Congratulations to jwturner97 on his first FTF, great to see a new cacher get one 