Three years ago I was fortunate to enjoy a short break in the Spanish city of Madrid – and what a beautiful city it is! One of the highlights for me (as well as the fact that King Felipe was kind enough to synchronise his coronation with my visit) was the time I spent wandering in the Royal Botanic Garden. It is situated right next to the incredible Prado Museum and is the perfect dessert to the museum’s main course of artistic masterpieces.

Established by King Charles III in 1781, the Garden is not meant as a park but is rather a museum collection of live plants, a centre for research into historic plants and for the study of plant life, for the preservation of plant species and for the encouragement of the botanical sciences. It is also a feast for the senses!