I escaped the city and found a beautiful haven 30 minutes away

I love city life, but sometimes you need a break from the concrete jungle. On Sunday morning, I jumped in my car in Liverpool city centre, and just over half an hour later, I was in a nature-lover's paradise.

Ness Botanic Gardens is definitely worth the mileage, and has to be one of the best days out on Merseyside. My Wirral-loving friend had been telling me to go there for ages. "Trust me," she said. "It's an absolute gem of a place." She wasn't wrong. I've seen my fair share of parks and gardens, and I think Ness is special.

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After entering the gardens with my family, we walked through tree-lined paths leading to lilyponds, meadows and waterfalls. Along the way, we stopped to admire plants of all shapes, sizes and origins.

It was an absolute riot of colour and fragrance, a real treat for the senses - especially for someone who had spent the past week breathing in bus fumes and dodging angry seagulls in the city.

Located in Little Neston in Wirral, the 64-acre gardens were originally created by Arthur Kilpin Bulley. He was passionate about plants, and made it his mission to introduce new varieties to European gardens from far-flung places like China, Tibet and Nepal.

He paid for plant hunters to undertake overseas expeditions to look for plants that would be new and exotic to British tastes. In 1898, Bulley bought farmland in Ness which he would go on to develop into a family home, house and garden.

He also set up Bees Nursery so he could share these new plants with gardeners across the country. Bees became a household name through its cheap packets of seeds, which used to be sold at Woolworths. Bulley died in 1942, and six years later, his daughter Lois gave the site at Ness Gardens to the University of Liverpool to secure its future.

Rachel Taylor from Chester was at Ness Gardens on Sunday with her husband and three kids. They have been members for years, and are regular visitors.

She told me: "There's always something nice flowering here. Every time we come there's something different to see.

"We love the open space, and the serenity of it. My eldest son loves looking at the koi in the lilypond, and my twin boys just love running around in the open air."

At the visitor centre, there is a café where you can grab a bite to eat or stop for a drink. When I went with my family on Sunday, we wanted to make the most of our time in the gardens, so we took a picnic and sat on a bench overlooking the Japanese garden.

Today, the university still owns Ness Botanic Gardens, and the facilities are used for university research, from plant science through to archaeology. The gardens are also used as a wedding venue, as well as hosting an variety of events and activities.

It costs £8.50 for adult entry to Ness Gardens and £4.50 for kids. A family of two adults and three kids will pay £21.50. If you become a member, you'll get free entry to the gardens during opening hours, with access to the gardens until dusk between March and October.