Happy days, expensive nights: The Temperate House

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you’ve ever looked past the bus stops of Leamington Spa, you’ll soon realise that there is more to the student city than chain restaurants and house parties.The Temperate House in Leamington’s Jephson Gardens is definitely an alternative to expensive nights out in clubs named after narcotic substances or chemical elements.The best part is that it’s totally free so you might as well take a chance. After all, you also took those three freshers bags at the fair and now they just collect dust in your room (they were free though!).

If you don’t quite grasp the concept of a Temperate House, it’s basically a very warm and steamy place for exotic plants to grow. Solo trip or date, the Temperate House will welcome you in its humid arms. A good way to impress your date is to name the bizarre plants (don’t worry they have name tags), and if the date turns out to be a huge success you might as well marry in the Temperate House, as it offers weddings too. Spoiler warning: no selfies can be taken in the premises; every lens immediately steams up. Yes, this is tested and verified.

If the date turns out to be a huge success you might as well marry in the Temperate House

It’s open from 10am until 4pm so there’s plenty of time to pop into the small oasis of peace. You’ll definitely find the small bugs to your amusement, especially as the ‘bug of the month’ changes regularly. But most of the time you’ll just wonder what kind of mysterious plants grow on this earth, let alone Leamington Spa. Apparently some of the plants types are over 500 million years old. When you’ve had enough of the flora then there’s also some fauna to admire. Don’t feed the orange fish though; they’re on a special diet.

For more information on the Temperate House and for full details of opening times, visit http://www.leamington.co.uk/jephson-gardens.html