Jardin Botanico Atlantico, Gijon, Asturias, NW Spain An open garden in Asturias

These are superb gardens well worth a visit, and what's more the entry charge is only 7 euros, good value for money!
A new ferry service now exists between St Nazaire in NW France, to Gijon, in Asturias. It is run by LD Lines and provides a 14 hour overnight crossing arriving at 11 a.m. It's not expensive as ferries go!
Gijon is framed by the Asturian cordillera on one side and has the Gulf Stream on the other, so it's not surprising that the gardens never get anywhere near freezing. A wonderfully balmy and warm spot, even in November, when we visited.
The site is extremely well labelled and set out, with numerous sections covering all the kinds of plants you can expect to find in an Atlantic coastal garden. Labels, boards and the audio commentary are all in several languages including English.
The areas include: threatened and rare endemic plants; the Cantabrian environment; forests, including cork oaks, shrubs and heathland plants, meadow and prairie plants, amphibian and aquatic plants, and a really fascinating section of Old World fruit plants, followed by New World plants. Here you will find everything growing outside, including paw-paws, guavas, persimmons, feijoa, oranges and other citrus, and even asimina triloba, the hardy 'paw paw' from America. There were some impressive large specimens of avocado pear, but no fruit on them yet.
This is followed by an exhibition of unwanted and invasive plants.
We didn't get to see the 'Jardin de la Isla' as we didn't have enough time, but a glance showed us huge tree ferns, and it includes oriental plants, rhododendrons, eucalypts and magnolia, as well as dozens of other trees and plants.
These are superb gardens and not to be missed if you are in this part of Spain, or on your way to Portugal.