The green oasis of Belfast's Botanic Gardens is a short stroll away from the university. Just inside the Stranmillis Rd gate is a statue of Belfast-born William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, who helped lay the foundation of modern physics and who invented the Kelvin scale which measures temperatures from absolute zero (-273°C or 0°K).

The gardens' centrepiece is Charles Lanyon's beautiful Palm House, built in 1839 and completed in 1852, with its birdcage dome, a masterpiece in cast-iron and curvilinear glass. Nearby is the unique Tropical Ravine, a huge red-brick greenhouse designed by the garden's curator Charles McKimm and completed in 1889. Inside, a raised walkway overlooks a jungle of tropical ferns, orchids, lilies and banana plants growing in a sunken glen.