The episode featuring the Garden is titled An Opportunity of a Lifetime and aired on Monday, 11 November 2024. The programme presenters travelled around the East of England visiting antique shops and auction houses and stopped at the Garden for a visit while they were in Cambridge. They, and viewers, were taken on a journey of discovery into the amazing world of plants, history, and exploration, revealing some fascinating finds and scientific stories along the way.
Filming for the episode took place last spring in the Garden and the Cambridge University Herbarium. Antiques Road Trip presenters and experts, Raj Bisram and Hettie Jago, were introduced to some of CUBG’s work.
Raj got to travel in the fingertips of Charles Darwin and got up, close and personal, with some of the valuable herbarium specimens that Darwin sent back from the Voyage of the Beagle to his mentor and CUBG founder, John Stevens Henslow. As CUBG’s Curator, Professor Sam Brockington explained to Raj: “On these specimens you can begin to see some of his thought processes…so you’re beginning to capture this all important variation that the theory of evolution went on to explain.”
They also discovered how the Garden’s current plant collecting work is continuing the Henslow/Darwin legacy and playing a crucial role today in the conservation of plant species under threat. Hettie saw first-hand some of the new plant material that our teams are bringing back from around the world for conservation and scientific research, including seeds gathered from a recent trip to Kyrgyzstan.
“For me this is really big, to be this close to something so significant…”
Sam Brockington who took part in the filming says: “It was a fantastic experience being part of the filming and showcasing our work to Raj and Hettie. They were genuinely in awe of our collections and fascinated by the work we do to conserve some of the world’s most endangered plants.”
Sam adds: “I hope viewers enjoyed finding out more about our work and the wonderful world of herbaria, and that the programme inspires them to visit our Garden and support the work we do. That would be wonderful!”
Enjoy Raj and Hettie’s experience at Cambridge University Botanic Garden and learn more about Darwin, Henslow and their legacy, by watching the episode on BBC iPlayer.
“It was a fantastic experience being part of the filming and showcasing our work to Raj and Hettie. They were genuinely in awe of our collections and fascinated by the work we do to conserve some of the world’s most endangered plants.”
Thank you to the BBC team for capturing the essence of the Garden and we hope viewers enjoyed the journey into our past and present as much as we enjoyed being a part of this exciting episode!
