It’s 30 years since the Inverness Floral Hall opened on the west bank of the River Ness.
A scented oasis of warmth and beauty – and at one point, somewhere you could get up close and personal with butterflies, snakes, millipedes and even giant hissing cockroaches.
The glasshouse rose from the grounds of Bught House, an 18th Century stately home pulled down in the 1960s to make way for a new ice rink, among other ambitions.
The Bught lands have an ancient history, including the request of 18th Century owner Duncan Grant that his estate should be sold to the town at a nominal price, with a restriction on the area that could be built over, the remainder to be used for sport and recreation.
It’s not known whether he had a Floral Hall in mind, but in any case, his request wasn’t granted until 1923, when the estate was in the ownership of Col Alexander Redmond Bewley Warrand of the Seaforth Highlanders.
Inverness Floral Hall attracted 80,000 visitors a year
Unmarried and with no children, he followed up Duncan Grant’s earlier request by selling the Bught estate to the people of Inverness for £11,250 (around £870,000 today) as Common Good Land.
The Floral Hall now nestles in the former walled garden of the old Bught House.
The Highland Council facility cost £500,000 and was opened in 1993 by Prince Edward on May 14, 1993.
It immediately attracted 80,000 visitors a year.
But when entry charges were introduced three years later, not even the award-winning cactus house and steamy tropical section could persuade people to cough up.
Numbers plummeted to 13,000, forcing the city fathers to think again.
They’d been trying to balance the books with offers like having your wedding photo taken there for £17.50, but it wasn’t making much of a dent in the overspend of more than £260k.
Charges wouldn’t be dropped until 2013.
Watch those fingers around the carnivorous plants
At its heart is the steamy tropical house, mimicking rainforest conditions.
Here you can spot large healthy versions of your own possibly lacklustre houseplants.
Watch your fingers, kids, around the carnivorous plants such as sundew, Venus flytrap and pitcher plants.
The feature waterfall and fountain are popular backdrops for weddings and events.
The resident Koi carp seem unperturbed by the constant flow of humans.
If it gets too steamy, it’s only a quick step through to the arid cactus house.
Inverness joined other major cities with botanic gardens
There are hundreds of different specimens from all over the world arranged in 75 tons of rock and sand.
In 2003 one of the succulents made an escape bid, reaching for the skies and forcing staff to remove a glass pane.
As the 14ft agave plant was 12 years old, it was perhaps a fit of teenage rebellion.
To call it the Floral Hall these days betrays your age.
In 2014 it underwent a £110,000 revamp and operator High Life Highland renamed it Inverness Botanic Gardens.
This meant that Inverness joined other Scottish cities, including Edinburgh and Glasgow, in boasting botanic gardens.
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