The Alnwick Poison Garden

The Alnwick Garden is actually a 12-acre complex of gardens located in the town of Alnwick, Northumberland, England. The first garden was laid down in 1750, but the grounds eventually fell into disrepair until the 21st century.

In 1995, Jane Percy became the Duchess of Northumberland and began her unique renovations. Ten years later, the Poison Garden at Alnwick made its debut.

It is home to more than 100 poisonous, hallucinogenic, and intoxicating plants, including belladonna (deadly nightshade), monkshood, hellebore, angel’s trumpet, mandrake (also called Satan’s apple) foxglove, hemlock, and the castor plant, which contains the extremely lethal ricin.

However, the most toxic specimen on-site is the gympie-gympie, or Australian stinging tree. Native to the rainforests of Australasia and Indonesia, it has tiny hairs which break off at the slightest touch, releasing toxins into the skin. The sting is excruciatingly painful and can last for months, or even years. For their own safety, visitors to the Poison Garden are forbidden to touch, smell, or even stand too close to the plants.

Tours are supervised and conducted in groups of no more than 20, allowing the guide to keep an eye on all guests. Still, Percy reports that the garden experiences at least one fainting each day.

Percy was inspired by researching the Medici family, who were long suspected of poisoning their enemies. Catherine de’Medici, the Serpent Queen (1519 - 1589) is rumored to have killed her rival, Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre, with a pair of poisoned perfumed gloves, though there is no evidence of this. Also grown in the garden are a variety of recreational drug plants, including cannabis, coca plants, and opium poppies, as part of its educational program.

According to Percy, her motivations were simple: "The line between kill and cure is what I'm interested in. The story of how plants can cure, I find pretty boring, really. Much better to know how a plant kills."