#longwoodgardens — Public Fediverse posts

Visiting #longwoodgardens always makes me want to up the #bloomscrolling happening in my own home. I'll never win but more flowers are more flowers.

Visiting #longwoodgardens always makes me want to up the #bloomscrolling happening in my own home. I'll never win but more flowers are more flowers.

Visiting #longwoodgardens always makes me want to up the #bloomscrolling happening in my own home. I'll never win but more flowers are more flowers.

Visiting #longwoodgardens always makes me want to up the #bloomscrolling happening in my own home. I'll never win but more flowers are more flowers.

Visiting #longwoodgardens always makes me want to up the #bloomscrolling happening in my own home. I'll never win but more flowers are more flowers.

Here's another part of the garden that I could have stared at for an hour. #LongwoodGardens #tulips #water #garden #flowers

Here's another part of the garden that I could have stared at for an hour. #LongwoodGardens #tulips #water #garden #flowers

Here's another part of the garden that I could have stared at for an hour. #LongwoodGardens #tulips #water #garden #flowers

Here's another part of the garden that I could have stared at for an hour. #LongwoodGardens #tulips #water #garden #flowers

The tulip display at Longwood Gardens was incredible this year. #LongwoodGardens #tulip #tulips #tulipa #tulpen #flowers #bulbs #garden #gardening #pennsylvania

The tulip display at Longwood Gardens was incredible this year. #LongwoodGardens #tulip #tulips #tulipa #tulpen #flowers #bulbs #garden #gardening #pennsylvania

The tulip display at Longwood Gardens was incredible this year. #LongwoodGardens #tulip #tulips #tulipa #tulpen #flowers #bulbs #garden #gardening #pennsylvania

The tulip display at Longwood Gardens was incredible this year. #LongwoodGardens #tulip #tulips #tulipa #tulpen #flowers #bulbs #garden #gardening #pennsylvania

Why Spring Blooms Is the Most Beautiful Time to Visit Longwood Gardens https://www.allforgardening.com/1705427/why-spring-blooms-is-the-most-beautiful-time-to-visit-longwood-gardens/ #FlowerFestivals #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens #Philadelphia #SpringFun

Why Spring Blooms Is the Most Beautiful Time to Visit Longwood Gardens https://www.allforgardening.com/1705427/why-spring-blooms-is-the-most-beautiful-time-to-visit-longwood-gardens/ #FlowerFestivals #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens #Philadelphia #SpringFun

Spring Blooms returns to Longwood Gardens with tulips, flowering trees and extended hours https://www.allforgardening.com/1675175/spring-blooms-returns-to-longwood-gardens-with-tulips-flowering-trees-and-extended-hours/ #flowers #garden #gardening #KennettSquare #LongwoodGardens #spring

Spring Blooms returns to Longwood Gardens with tulips, flowering trees and extended hours https://www.allforgardening.com/1675175/spring-blooms-returns-to-longwood-gardens-with-tulips-flowering-trees-and-extended-hours/ #flowers #garden #gardening #KennettSquare #LongwoodGardens #spring

Longwood Gardens named by USA TODAY as one of country’s best gardens https://www.allforgardening.com/1662475/longwood-gardens-named-by-usa-today-as-one-of-countrys-best-gardens/ #10Best.com #affiliate #garden #gardens #local #LocalAffiliateTravel #Longwood #LongwoodGardens #Marimo. #Overall #OverallPositive #parks #pennsylvania #positive #Regional #RegionalParksU0026Gardens #travel #u0026

Longwood Gardens named by USA TODAY as one of country’s best gardens https://www.allforgardening.com/1662475/longwood-gardens-named-by-usa-today-as-one-of-countrys-best-gardens/ #10Best.com #affiliate #garden #gardens #local #LocalAffiliateTravel #Longwood #LongwoodGardens #Marimo. #Overall #OverallPositive #parks #pennsylvania #positive #Regional #RegionalParksU0026Gardens #travel #u0026

Turn Your Backyard into an Enchanted Garden with These Simple Lighting Upgrades https://www.allforgardening.com/1634655/turn-your-backyard-into-an-enchanted-garden-with-these-simple-lighting-upgrades-2/ #conservatory #garden #GardenGlow #gardener #gardening #JimSutton #LongwoodGardens #OutdoorLighting #OutdoorLights #Spark #WarmLight #WarmLighting

Turn Your Backyard into an Enchanted Garden with These Simple Lighting Upgrades https://www.allforgardening.com/1634655/turn-your-backyard-into-an-enchanted-garden-with-these-simple-lighting-upgrades-2/ #conservatory #garden #GardenGlow #gardener #gardening #JimSutton #LongwoodGardens #OutdoorLighting #OutdoorLights #Spark #WarmLight #WarmLighting

9 Unforgettable U.S. Botanical Gardens Worth Traveling For https://www.allforgardening.com/1621296/9-unforgettable-u-s-botanical-gardens-worth-traveling-for/ #BotanicalGarden #BotanicalGardens #BrooklynBotanicGarden #ChicagoBotanicGarden #DesertCacti #garden #LongwoodGardens #MissouriBotanicalGarden #NewYorkBotanicalGarden #Shutterstock #UnitedStatesBotanicGarden

9 Unforgettable U.S. Botanical Gardens Worth Traveling For https://www.allforgardening.com/1621296/9-unforgettable-u-s-botanical-gardens-worth-traveling-for/ #BotanicalGarden #BotanicalGardens #BrooklynBotanicGarden #ChicagoBotanicGarden #DesertCacti #garden #LongwoodGardens #MissouriBotanicalGarden #NewYorkBotanicalGarden #Shutterstock #UnitedStatesBotanicGarden

10 best spring gardens to visit across the U.S. https://www.allforgardening.com/1620384/10-best-spring-gardens-to-visit-across-the-u-s/ #CallawayGardens #FormalGarden #FormalGardens #garden #GardenVisit #HuntingtonBotanicalGardens #LongwoodGardens #MountVernon #PublicGardens #SpringDisplays #SpringGarden

10 best spring gardens to visit across the U.S. https://www.allforgardening.com/1620384/10-best-spring-gardens-to-visit-across-the-u-s/ #CallawayGardens #FormalGarden #FormalGardens #garden #GardenVisit #HuntingtonBotanicalGardens #LongwoodGardens #MountVernon #PublicGardens #SpringDisplays #SpringGarden

Longwood Gardens’ Garden Glow Lights Up Kennett Square Nights https://www.allforgardening.com/1609206/longwood-gardens-garden-glow-lights-up-kennett-square-nights/ #events #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens

Longwood Gardens’ Garden Glow Lights Up Kennett Square Nights https://www.allforgardening.com/1609206/longwood-gardens-garden-glow-lights-up-kennett-square-nights/ #events #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens

Longwood Gardens horticulturist Karl Gercens III to share bold design ideas at Berkshire Botanical Garden lecture | Arts and Culture https://www.allforgardening.com/1596512/longwood-gardens-horticulturist-karl-gercens-iii-to-share-bold-design-ideas-at-berkshire-botanical-garden-lecture-arts-and-culture/ #BbgWinterLecture #BerkshireBotanicalGarden #garden #KarlGercensIii #LongwoodGardens

Longwood Gardens horticulturist Karl Gercens III to share bold design ideas at Berkshire Botanical Garden lecture | Arts and Culture https://www.allforgardening.com/1596512/longwood-gardens-horticulturist-karl-gercens-iii-to-share-bold-design-ideas-at-berkshire-botanical-garden-lecture-arts-and-culture/ #BbgWinterLecture #BerkshireBotanicalGarden #garden #KarlGercensIii #LongwoodGardens

Winter Wonder Ignites Longwood Gardens With Light, Color, and After-Hours Magic https://www.allforgardening.com/1586017/winter-wonder-ignites-longwood-gardens-with-light-color-and-after-hours-magic/ #bonsai #Conservatory(greenhouse) #events #garden #gardening #greenhouses #LongwoodGardens

Winter Wonder Ignites Longwood Gardens With Light, Color, and After-Hours Magic https://www.allforgardening.com/1586017/winter-wonder-ignites-longwood-gardens-with-light-color-and-after-hours-magic/ #bonsai #Conservatory(greenhouse) #events #garden #gardening #greenhouses #LongwoodGardens

Attempted and successful library tourism in Edinburgh and Northern England

Beyond the NLS, Scotland has various libraries within the country. There’s over twenty public libraries in Edinburgh alone. The day after I visited the NLS, I traveled to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RGBE) by bus. This garden is akin to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. It has a beautiful plant collection, and a special library. However, the library isn’t accessible from the garden, a clear barrier to entry. Furthermore, the science, learning and archives section is only accessible by appointment. That is too bad. If it had been accessible from the garden I may have visited it. There are museums and various collections within the garden as well. Every plant has a specific identifying number associated with it.

Note: This serves as the beginning of my series, which begins, chronologically, with my guest post on Reel Librarians, on February 11th, entitled “Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland: Library tourism redux.” It will be reposted on here over a month later. There will be two more parts of this series, focusing on my continued library tourism in London and Belgium coming later this year. Links to those will be added to this post later.

The RGBE website describes the library as providing the “basic tools” to support research and organization of biodiversity into a “manageable framework to underpin ecological and biological research.” This makes it even more unfortunate that the “extensive” library, said to be the Scottish national reference collection for “specialist botanical and horticultural resources” with over one million items, cannot be accessed from the garden itself. A pamphlet purchased for two pounds says directly: “no access from Garden,” putting this barrier into writing.

The second part of my vacation involved staying one week at HF Holidays’ Derwent Bank house, which sits on Derwent Water lake, to hike throughout the acclaimed and well-known Lake District, in Cumbria. Some of the hikes were arduous, although that might not be the case if you were physically fit, unlike myself, who wasn’t as fit as other hikers. I wanted to hike there as it was blazing hot in Baltimore, where I live. Other hikers were primarily from England and the Netherlands. The hikes often involved going through sheep grazing areas, avoiding sheep poop in the process, with beautiful views, and a visit to the Castlerigg Stone Circle.

On the fifth day of hiking, on July 31st, the coach bus I was riding in, with fellow hikers passed by the Keswick library. It looked to be one big room filled with desktop computers. Further research indicated that this library offers printing, loanable dementia bags and storysacks, hearing aid batteries, and more. It’s located off the town’s main street, with some nearby parking lots (they call them “car parks” in England), plus a bus station 200 yards from the library. It also hosts board games, a Lego club, jigsaw puzzle building, mindful coloring, books to help with well-being and health, and more.

Lastly was a bookshelf almost akin to the Little Free “Library” collections in the U.S. (but without serving a physical manifestation of a “desire to privatize the world”), at the Penrith train station. See you at the next post, where my journey continues, in London!

© 2025-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Sources used

• “Derwent Bank Lake District,” HF Holidays, 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Blogposts, fictional archives, Ancestry’s monopoly on federal records, the Little Free “Library” deception, powerful ICJ decisions, and the DNC’s sidelining of pro-Palestinian voices,” History Hermann, 3 Sept. 2024.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Here’s four photos I took from my third-floor room at the Derwent Bank house of @hfholidays.co.uk on August 1st, the last day I was there, looking down at the beautiful garden, and down across the Derwent Water lake to the beautiful landscape across the lake. I revised the image slightly from the original using an Instagram filter on here. I only stayed for a week, and this was only the second part of my trip (the first part was going to #edinburgh) but I throughly [sic] enjoyed my time there, even if the hikes could be rigorous at times,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Photos of the Castlerigg Stone Circle which I took on July 28th, a place also known as the Druids Circle. I used some photo tools on here to make these images even better and pop out more, as the originals were rather dark. #castleriggstonecircle,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• “Keswick Library,” Cumberland Council, 2025.
• “Libraries,” City of Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Library & Archives,” Longwood Gardens, 2025.
• Miline, Simon. “Why our work matters,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Our History,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Penrith (North Lakes) (PNR),” National Rail, 2025.
• “What We Do,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.

#CastleriggStoneCircle #castleriggstonecircle #Cumbria #DerwentBank #Edinburgh #England #gardens #HFHolidays #Keswick #LakeDistrict #lakes #libraryTourism #LongwoodGardens #maps #memory #museums #NationalLibraryOfScotland #Penrith #publicTransit #ReelLibrarians #restrictions #Scotland #shortBlogs

Attempted and successful library tourism in Edinburgh and Northern England

Beyond the NLS, Scotland has various libraries within the country. There’s over twenty public libraries in Edinburgh alone. The day after I visited the NLS, I traveled to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RGBE) by bus. This garden is akin to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. It has a beautiful plant collection, and a special library. However, the library isn’t accessible from the garden, a clear barrier to entry. Furthermore, the science, learning and archives section is only accessible by appointment. That is too bad. If it had been accessible from the garden I may have visited it. There are museums and various collections within the garden as well. Every plant has a specific identifying number associated with it.

Note: This serves as the beginning of my series, which begins, chronologically, with my guest post on Reel Librarians, on February 11th, entitled “Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland: Library tourism redux.” It will be reposted on here over a month later. There will be two more parts of this series, focusing on my continued library tourism in London and Belgium coming later this year. Links to those will be added to this post later.

The RGBE website describes the library as providing the “basic tools” to support research and organization of biodiversity into a “manageable framework to underpin ecological and biological research.” This makes it even more unfortunate that the “extensive” library, said to be the Scottish national reference collection for “specialist botanical and horticultural resources” with over one million items, cannot be accessed from the garden itself. A pamphlet purchased for two pounds says directly: “no access from Garden,” putting this barrier into writing.

The second part of my vacation involved staying one week at HF Holidays’ Derwent Bank house, which sits on Derwent Water lake, to hike throughout the acclaimed and well-known Lake District, in Cumbria. Some of the hikes were arduous, although that might not be the case if you were physically fit, unlike myself, who wasn’t as fit as other hikers. I wanted to hike there as it was blazing hot in Baltimore, where I live. Other hikers were primarily from England and the Netherlands. The hikes often involved going through sheep grazing areas, avoiding sheep poop in the process, with beautiful views, and a visit to the Castlerigg Stone Circle.

On the fifth day of hiking, on July 31st, the coach bus I was riding in, with fellow hikers passed by the Keswick library. It looked to be one big room filled with desktop computers. Further research indicated that this library offers printing, loanable dementia bags and storysacks, hearing aid batteries, and more. It’s located off the town’s main street, with some nearby parking lots (they call them “car parks” in England), plus a bus station 200 yards from the library. It also hosts board games, a Lego club, jigsaw puzzle building, mindful coloring, books to help with well-being and health, and more.

Lastly was a bookshelf almost akin to the Little Free “Library” collections in the U.S. (but without serving a physical manifestation of a “desire to privatize the world”), at the Penrith train station. See you at the next post, where my journey continues, in London!

© 2025-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Sources used

• “Derwent Bank Lake District,” HF Holidays, 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Blogposts, fictional archives, Ancestry’s monopoly on federal records, the Little Free “Library” deception, powerful ICJ decisions, and the DNC’s sidelining of pro-Palestinian voices,” History Hermann, 3 Sept. 2024.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Here’s four photos I took from my third-floor room at the Derwent Bank house of @hfholidays.co.uk on August 1st, the last day I was there, looking down at the beautiful garden, and down across the Derwent Water lake to the beautiful landscape across the lake. I revised the image slightly from the original using an Instagram filter on here. I only stayed for a week, and this was only the second part of my trip (the first part was going to #edinburgh) but I throughly [sic] enjoyed my time there, even if the hikes could be rigorous at times,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Photos of the Castlerigg Stone Circle which I took on July 28th, a place also known as the Druids Circle. I used some photo tools on here to make these images even better and pop out more, as the originals were rather dark. #castleriggstonecircle,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• “Keswick Library,” Cumberland Council, 2025.
• “Libraries,” City of Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Library & Archives,” Longwood Gardens, 2025.
• Miline, Simon. “Why our work matters,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Our History,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Penrith (North Lakes) (PNR),” National Rail, 2025.
• “What We Do,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.

#CastleriggStoneCircle #castleriggstonecircle #Cumbria #DerwentBank #Edinburgh #England #gardens #HFHolidays #Keswick #LakeDistrict #lakes #libraryTourism #LongwoodGardens #maps #memory #museums #NationalLibraryOfScotland #Penrith #publicTransit #ReelLibrarians #restrictions #Scotland #shortBlogs

Attempted and successful library tourism in Edinburgh and Northern England

Beyond the NLS, Scotland has various libraries within the country. There’s over twenty public libraries in Edinburgh alone. The day after I visited the NLS, I traveled to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RGBE) by bus. This garden is akin to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. It has a beautiful plant collection, and a special library. However, the library isn’t accessible from the garden, a clear barrier to entry. Furthermore, the science, learning and archives section is only accessible by appointment. That is too bad. If it had been accessible from the garden I may have visited it. There are museums and various collections within the garden as well. Every plant has a specific identifying number associated with it.

Note: This serves as the beginning of my series, which begins, chronologically, with my guest post on Reel Librarians, on February 11th, entitled “Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland: Library tourism redux.” It will be reposted on here over a month later. There will be two more parts of this series, focusing on my continued library tourism in London and Belgium coming later this year. Links to those will be added to this post later.

The RGBE website describes the library as providing the “basic tools” to support research and organization of biodiversity into a “manageable framework to underpin ecological and biological research.” This makes it even more unfortunate that the “extensive” library, said to be the Scottish national reference collection for “specialist botanical and horticultural resources” with over one million items, cannot be accessed from the garden itself. A pamphlet purchased for two pounds says directly: “no access from Garden,” putting this barrier into writing.

The second part of my vacation involved staying one week at HF Holidays’ Derwent Bank house, which sits on Derwent Water lake, to hike throughout the acclaimed and well-known Lake District, in Cumbria. Some of the hikes were arduous, although that might not be the case if you were physically fit, unlike myself, who wasn’t as fit as other hikers. I wanted to hike there as it was blazing hot in Baltimore, where I live. Other hikers were primarily from England and the Netherlands. The hikes often involved going through sheep grazing areas, avoiding sheep poop in the process, with beautiful views, and a visit to the Castlerigg Stone Circle.

On the fifth day of hiking, on July 31st, the coach bus I was riding in, with fellow hikers passed by the Keswick library. It looked to be one big room filled with desktop computers. Further research indicated that this library offers printing, loanable dementia bags and storysacks, hearing aid batteries, and more. It’s located off the town’s main street, with some nearby parking lots (they call them “car parks” in England), plus a bus station 200 yards from the library. It also hosts board games, a Lego club, jigsaw puzzle building, mindful coloring, books to help with well-being and health, and more.

Lastly was a bookshelf almost akin to the Little Free “Library” collections in the U.S. (but without serving a physical manifestation of a “desire to privatize the world”), at the Penrith train station. See you at the next post, where my journey continues, in London!

© 2025-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Sources used

• “Derwent Bank Lake District,” HF Holidays, 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Blogposts, fictional archives, Ancestry’s monopoly on federal records, the Little Free “Library” deception, powerful ICJ decisions, and the DNC’s sidelining of pro-Palestinian voices,” History Hermann, 3 Sept. 2024.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Here’s four photos I took from my third-floor room at the Derwent Bank house of @hfholidays.co.uk on August 1st, the last day I was there, looking down at the beautiful garden, and down across the Derwent Water lake to the beautiful landscape across the lake. I revised the image slightly from the original using an Instagram filter on here. I only stayed for a week, and this was only the second part of my trip (the first part was going to #edinburgh) but I throughly [sic] enjoyed my time there, even if the hikes could be rigorous at times,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Photos of the Castlerigg Stone Circle which I took on July 28th, a place also known as the Druids Circle. I used some photo tools on here to make these images even better and pop out more, as the originals were rather dark. #castleriggstonecircle,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• “Keswick Library,” Cumberland Council, 2025.
• “Libraries,” City of Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Library & Archives,” Longwood Gardens, 2025.
• Miline, Simon. “Why our work matters,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Our History,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Penrith (North Lakes) (PNR),” National Rail, 2025.
• “What We Do,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.

#CastleriggStoneCircle #castleriggstonecircle #Cumbria #DerwentBank #Edinburgh #England #gardens #HFHolidays #Keswick #LakeDistrict #lakes #libraryTourism #LongwoodGardens #maps #memory #museums #NationalLibraryOfScotland #Penrith #publicTransit #ReelLibrarians #restrictions #Scotland #shortBlogs

Attempted and successful library tourism in Edinburgh and Northern England

Beyond the NLS, Scotland has various libraries within the country. There’s over twenty public libraries in Edinburgh alone. The day after I visited the NLS, I traveled to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RGBE) by bus. This garden is akin to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. It has a beautiful plant collection, and a special library. However, the library isn’t accessible from the garden, a clear barrier to entry. Furthermore, the science, learning and archives section is only accessible by appointment. That is too bad. If it had been accessible from the garden I may have visited it. There are museums and various collections within the garden as well. Every plant has a specific identifying number associated with it.

Note: This serves as the beginning of my series, which begins, chronologically, with my guest post on Reel Librarians, on February 11th, entitled “Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland: Library tourism redux.” It will be reposted on here over a month later. There will be two more parts of this series, focusing on my continued library tourism in London and Belgium coming later this year. Links to those will be added to this post later.

The RGBE website describes the library as providing the “basic tools” to support research and organization of biodiversity into a “manageable framework to underpin ecological and biological research.” This makes it even more unfortunate that the “extensive” library, said to be the Scottish national reference collection for “specialist botanical and horticultural resources” with over one million items, cannot be accessed from the garden itself. A pamphlet purchased for two pounds says directly: “no access from Garden,” putting this barrier into writing.

The second part of my vacation involved staying one week at HF Holidays’ Derwent Bank house, which sits on Derwent Water lake, to hike throughout the acclaimed and well-known Lake District, in Cumbria. Some of the hikes were arduous, although that might not be the case if you were physically fit, unlike myself, who wasn’t as fit as other hikers. I wanted to hike there as it was blazing hot in Baltimore, where I live. Other hikers were primarily from England and the Netherlands. The hikes often involved going through sheep grazing areas, avoiding sheep poop in the process, with beautiful views, and a visit to the Castlerigg Stone Circle.

On the fifth day of hiking, on July 31st, the coach bus I was riding in, with fellow hikers passed by the Keswick library. It looked to be one big room filled with desktop computers. Further research indicated that this library offers printing, loanable dementia bags and storysacks, hearing aid batteries, and more. It’s located off the town’s main street, with some nearby parking lots (they call them “car parks” in England), plus a bus station 200 yards from the library. It also hosts board games, a Lego club, jigsaw puzzle building, mindful coloring, books to help with well-being and health, and more.

Lastly was a bookshelf almost akin to the Little Free “Library” collections in the U.S. (but without serving a physical manifestation of a “desire to privatize the world”), at the Penrith train station. See you at the next post, where my journey continues, in London!

© 2025-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Sources used

• “Derwent Bank Lake District,” HF Holidays, 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Blogposts, fictional archives, Ancestry’s monopoly on federal records, the Little Free “Library” deception, powerful ICJ decisions, and the DNC’s sidelining of pro-Palestinian voices,” History Hermann, 3 Sept. 2024.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Here’s four photos I took from my third-floor room at the Derwent Bank house of @hfholidays.co.uk on August 1st, the last day I was there, looking down at the beautiful garden, and down across the Derwent Water lake to the beautiful landscape across the lake. I revised the image slightly from the original using an Instagram filter on here. I only stayed for a week, and this was only the second part of my trip (the first part was going to #edinburgh) but I throughly [sic] enjoyed my time there, even if the hikes could be rigorous at times,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Photos of the Castlerigg Stone Circle which I took on July 28th, a place also known as the Druids Circle. I used some photo tools on here to make these images even better and pop out more, as the originals were rather dark. #castleriggstonecircle,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• “Keswick Library,” Cumberland Council, 2025.
• “Libraries,” City of Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Library & Archives,” Longwood Gardens, 2025.
• Miline, Simon. “Why our work matters,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Our History,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Penrith (North Lakes) (PNR),” National Rail, 2025.
• “What We Do,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.

#CastleriggStoneCircle #castleriggstonecircle #Cumbria #DerwentBank #Edinburgh #England #gardens #HFHolidays #Keswick #LakeDistrict #lakes #libraryTourism #LongwoodGardens #maps #memory #museums #NationalLibraryOfScotland #Penrith #publicTransit #ReelLibrarians #restrictions #Scotland #shortBlogs

Attempted and successful library tourism in Edinburgh and Northern England

Beyond the NLS, Scotland has various libraries within the country. There’s over twenty public libraries in Edinburgh alone. The day after I visited the NLS, I traveled to Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RGBE) by bus. This garden is akin to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. It has a beautiful plant collection, and a special library. However, the library isn’t accessible from the garden, a clear barrier to entry. Furthermore, the science, learning and archives section is only accessible by appointment. That is too bad. If it had been accessible from the garden I may have visited it. There are museums and various collections within the garden as well. Every plant has a specific identifying number associated with it.

Note: This serves as the beginning of my series, which begins, chronologically, with my guest post on Reel Librarians, on February 11th, entitled “Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland: Library tourism redux.” It will be reposted on here over a month later. There will be two more parts of this series, focusing on my continued library tourism in London and Belgium coming later this year. Links to those will be added to this post later.

The RGBE website describes the library as providing the “basic tools” to support research and organization of biodiversity into a “manageable framework to underpin ecological and biological research.” This makes it even more unfortunate that the “extensive” library, said to be the Scottish national reference collection for “specialist botanical and horticultural resources” with over one million items, cannot be accessed from the garden itself. A pamphlet purchased for two pounds says directly: “no access from Garden,” putting this barrier into writing.

The second part of my vacation involved staying one week at HF Holidays’ Derwent Bank house, which sits on Derwent Water lake, to hike throughout the acclaimed and well-known Lake District, in Cumbria. Some of the hikes were arduous, although that might not be the case if you were physically fit, unlike myself, who wasn’t as fit as other hikers. I wanted to hike there as it was blazing hot in Baltimore, where I live. Other hikers were primarily from England and the Netherlands. The hikes often involved going through sheep grazing areas, avoiding sheep poop in the process, with beautiful views, and a visit to the Castlerigg Stone Circle.

On the fifth day of hiking, on July 31st, the coach bus I was riding in, with fellow hikers passed by the Keswick library. It looked to be one big room filled with desktop computers. Further research indicated that this library offers printing, loanable dementia bags and storysacks, hearing aid batteries, and more. It’s located off the town’s main street, with some nearby parking lots (they call them “car parks” in England), plus a bus station 200 yards from the library. It also hosts board games, a Lego club, jigsaw puzzle building, mindful coloring, books to help with well-being and health, and more.

Lastly was a bookshelf almost akin to the Little Free “Library” collections in the U.S. (but without serving a physical manifestation of a “desire to privatize the world”), at the Penrith train station. See you at the next post, where my journey continues, in London!

© 2025-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Sources used

• “Derwent Bank Lake District,” HF Holidays, 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Blogposts, fictional archives, Ancestry’s monopoly on federal records, the Little Free “Library” deception, powerful ICJ decisions, and the DNC’s sidelining of pro-Palestinian voices,” History Hermann, 3 Sept. 2024.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Here’s four photos I took from my third-floor room at the Derwent Bank house of @hfholidays.co.uk on August 1st, the last day I was there, looking down at the beautiful garden, and down across the Derwent Water lake to the beautiful landscape across the lake. I revised the image slightly from the original using an Instagram filter on here. I only stayed for a week, and this was only the second part of my trip (the first part was going to #edinburgh) but I throughly [sic] enjoyed my time there, even if the hikes could be rigorous at times,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Photos of the Castlerigg Stone Circle which I took on July 28th, a place also known as the Druids Circle. I used some photo tools on here to make these images even better and pop out more, as the originals were rather dark. #castleriggstonecircle,” Instagram, 9. Aug. 2025.
• “Keswick Library,” Cumberland Council, 2025.
• “Libraries,” City of Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Library & Archives,” Longwood Gardens, 2025.
• Miline, Simon. “Why our work matters,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Our History,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.
• “Penrith (North Lakes) (PNR),” National Rail, 2025.
• “What We Do,” Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025.

#CastleriggStoneCircle #castleriggstonecircle #Cumbria #DerwentBank #Edinburgh #England #gardens #HFHolidays #Keswick #LakeDistrict #lakes #libraryTourism #LongwoodGardens #maps #memory #museums #NationalLibraryOfScotland #Penrith #publicTransit #ReelLibrarians #restrictions #Scotland #shortBlogs

‘Winter Wonder’ turns Longwood Gardens into a colorful indoor escape this winter https://www.allforgardening.com/1556151/winter-wonder-turns-longwood-gardens-into-a-colorful-indoor-escape-this-winter/ #FamilyFriendly #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens #plants #winter

‘Winter Wonder’ turns Longwood Gardens into a colorful indoor escape this winter https://www.allforgardening.com/1556151/winter-wonder-turns-longwood-gardens-into-a-colorful-indoor-escape-this-winter/ #FamilyFriendly #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens #plants #winter

Just a bit of maintenance required

Astute observers notice that I take a lot of photos of not-people. There’s a lot of blog-post selection bias: I don’t generally post photos of people here because I think it’s simply a kind thing to not do that. Besides, what’s wrong with pretty pictures of not-people?

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Chrysanthemums

Snapped during a slow meander through Longwood Gardens on our way to lunch.

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Martha Stewart sees Longwood Gardens Chrysanthemum Festival | Home & Garden https://www.allforgardening.com/1505409/martha-stewart-sees-longwood-gardens-chrysanthemum-festival-home-garden/ #chrysanthemum #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens #MarthaStewart #mums

Martha Stewart sees Longwood Gardens Chrysanthemum Festival | Home & Garden https://www.allforgardening.com/1505409/martha-stewart-sees-longwood-gardens-chrysanthemum-festival-home-garden/ #chrysanthemum #garden #gardening #LongwoodGardens #MarthaStewart #mums

@neve
So pretty. Reminds me of the conservatory at Longwood Gardens, one of the many sites in (or near) Delaware that the DuPont family is responsible for.

There's a whole section of Bonsai trees there.
#Writephant #LongwoodGardens

@neve
So pretty. Reminds me of the conservatory at Longwood Gardens, one of the many sites in (or near) Delaware that the DuPont family is responsible for.

There's a whole section of Bonsai trees there.
#Writephant #LongwoodGardens

@neve
So pretty. Reminds me of the conservatory at Longwood Gardens, one of the many sites in (or near) Delaware that the DuPont family is responsible for.

There's a whole section of Bonsai trees there.
#Writephant #LongwoodGardens

@neve
So pretty. Reminds me of the conservatory at Longwood Gardens, one of the many sites in (or near) Delaware that the DuPont family is responsible for.

There's a whole section of Bonsai trees there.
#Writephant #LongwoodGardens

@neve
So pretty. Reminds me of the conservatory at Longwood Gardens, one of the many sites in (or near) Delaware that the DuPont family is responsible for.

There's a whole section of Bonsai trees there.
#Writephant #LongwoodGardens

Christmas in the music room, Longwood Gardens.

ART - https://deborah-league.pixels.com/featured/christmas-tree-longwood-gardens-music-room-2020-deborah-league.html

#ayearforart #buyintoart #wallart #homedécor #artfeed #instaart #hellocolor #Ihavethisthingwithcolour #fillyourwallswithcolour #giftideas #lifestyleproducts #giftideas #lifestyle #colorful #art #artist #artwork #artmatters #interiordesign #artforsale #artprints #longwoodgardens #Christmas #nostalgia #greetingcards

Christmas in the music room, Longwood Gardens.

ART - https://deborah-league.pixels.com/featured/christmas-tree-longwood-gardens-music-room-2020-deborah-league.html

#ayearforart #buyintoart #wallart #homedécor #artfeed #instaart #hellocolor #Ihavethisthingwithcolour #fillyourwallswithcolour #giftideas #lifestyleproducts #giftideas #lifestyle #colorful #art #artist #artwork #artmatters #interiordesign #artforsale #artprints #longwoodgardens #Christmas #nostalgia #greetingcards

Christmas in the music room, Longwood Gardens.

ART - https://deborah-league.pixels.com/featured/christmas-tree-longwood-gardens-music-room-2020-deborah-league.html

#ayearforart #buyintoart #wallart #homedécor #artfeed #instaart #hellocolor #Ihavethisthingwithcolour #fillyourwallswithcolour #giftideas #lifestyleproducts #giftideas #lifestyle #colorful #art #artist #artwork #artmatters #interiordesign #artforsale #artprints #longwoodgardens #Christmas #nostalgia #greetingcards