2026: After 210 years the Alameda Gardens is everybody’s garden

The Alameda Gardens – have existed for over 200 years. This year it is 210 years old. The beauty of this garden is that it belongs to all of us – it is free entry and we can all make use of it and enjoy its surroundings – the tranquillity and beauty of its surroundings.

The Alameda Gardens belong to everyone, us – to everybody. Steeped in nostalgia for many of us who have played within its grounds as children – it is familiar territory because its historical layout has remained largely the same since it first opened its doors to the public even though 210 years ago its grounds would have extended to the whole of the Alameda Estate and below where the Rock Hotel sits today. But although its layout has remained constant, its garden has grown in diversity and colour with new beds and plants and flowers from all over the world – and which simply means a visit will remind you of your childhood but also offer you new experiences in smells, sight and sound.

On a recent visit I could not help but remember the times I played in the playground, attended performances at the Alameda Open Air Theatre – but my main recollection are the many times I took my bike to ride by the lane leading to one of the entrances of the garden… with my friends, and my mother pouring out the tea from the blue thermos flask we had then, and the egg sandwiches wrapped in grease-proof paper which always tasted like the best thing in the world. I am sure you have similar memories. So, I could not let this opportunity pass, and called my good friend Dr. Keith Bensusan, who whilst chatting reminded me I had first interviewed him back in 1993 (GBC TV) when he was named GONHS ‘Young Ornithologist of the Year’ at the age of 13.

Surprisingly, he even remembers it was conducted in the Dell area – but I should not be surprised because this is one of the most beautiful areas.

I would like to know what 13-year-old Keith would say about his involvement in the gardens and his role as Director since 2007 of the Alameda Gardens as Gibraltar’s national park and the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens. He first stepped into the gardens as a young member of GONHS, the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society, which to this day is closely associated with the Botanical Garden involved in the growing scientific research which remains ongoing throughout the year.

Today Keith strongly believes the gardens throughout its over 200 years of history continues to add value to Gibraltar and offers a great deal to the community – “a little oasis within the urban environment without going further up the rock”.

He tells me it is remarkable that the Almeda Garden is still here today – “but it is our personal stories which are tied to the Alameda in one way or another – it holds many of our childhood memories - and it is these personal stories which has secured and continues to secure its survival.”

It is a small garden, he says, when one compares it to other Botanic Gardens around the world but in proportion to Gibraltar’s size it is a large garden.

“It has always been valued especially back in the 19th century and during the 20th century when it was of great value to the public and very popular – and until very recently the only public garden in Gibraltar. The majority of us do not have gardens so in that respect the Alameda Garden became everybody’s garden.”

Keith is reserved and quiet – soft spoken – does not like the limelight - but touch upon his subject and you will get to know it all. He was 11 when the gardens became a Botanic garden – already he was a member of GONHS, he often visited the then director Dr John Cortes at the Alameda.

Keith refers to himself as a Biologist. He has always been interested in animals. Then in his teens, plants also became of interest. But he chose the path of zoology delving into botany modules which would help him later as director. His PhD was on bird ecology. Even in conversation he rarely talks about himself, but he likes reading and listening to music. He admits that at one point he was a voracious reader of novels which suddenly stopped some years back. He still reads a lot but mainly on history and social issues, and it goes without saying, popular science. His current read is a biography on Mozart.

Musically he has an eclectic taste and other than current pop he will listen to rock, classical, jazz – and the Beatles. But his day is consumed by terrestrial natural history, most notably plants, insects and birds – and the many scientific projects undertaken by the Botanic Gardens which reach out across Gibraltar’s natural environments. The garden became a Botanic Garden in1991 – the scientific work carried in the gardens is diverse and significant for the survival of indigenous plants such as the rare Gibraltar Campion and other species. But more about that next week. The main entrance into the Alameda is at the George Don Gates – the gates at Grand Parade. But one can also enter across from where the Casino entrance once was, halfway up the Rock Hotel Hill, opposite the old Queen’s Cinema (the area I always used as a child), and the ramp opposite Red Sands Road. Everyone, he says, has their own favourite entrance according to what is most convenient to them.

“As a child for me the main one would have been the Red Sands Road entrance by the Alameda Estate because that is where my grandparents lived.”

Now for me that is the entrance I often use if I am going to the Alameda Open Air Theatre – but I guess parents will use it with their children to access the playground as well. I mention to Keith that there are many photographs and postcards showing the ‘paseo’ at the Alameda over the years and especially early in the last century. We agree the gardens have always been popular for generations of Gibraltarians, and enjoyed by so many since the gardens first opened 210 years ago. It was what families did on a Sunday – the traditional ‘paseo’ in the afternoon to be seen in their best clothes. Even now, Keith adds, there are people – residents, visitors and tourists – walking in the Alameda Gardens. For tourists the most popular entrance is definitely at the George Don Gates. The gardens open daily from sunrise to sunset.

There are many people who use the Alameda on a daily basis – either for leisure activities, recreation – by taking a book and reading under a tree – viewing the wildlife and taking pictures of the plants, flowers and trees or just by simply walking through the Alameda to get home at the end of a day’s work – using it as thoroughfare getting away from our very busy roads for a while.

For Keith this is important – “as important as everything else. And I really believe that just being able to go on your way to work, getting away from the road for a while and being able to walk through a really beautiful garden for five or ten minutes at the start of your day can make all the difference to your morning and to the rest of your day.”

Keith has invited us to visit the gardens and check out the beautiful beds which like many of the areas are themed. The garden houses plants from all over the world. This, he says, is largely due to the history of the gardens themselves.

“We have inherited a garden which this year is 210 years old and includes some old specimen trees from all over with a focus on the Mediterranean, and parts of South Africa and Australia, which have a similar climate to ours.”

Here’s our suggestion: take these pages and make your way around the gardens and enjoy. Even in winter there is a great deal to see.

Next week: The history and scientific work.