How do you insure the UK’s deadliest garden?

Written by Jack Durrant Branch Director, BA (Hons), ACII.

While you may think it is an odd thing to do, gardeners at The Alnwick Garden, otherwise known as the UK’s deadliest garden, have spent their time cultivating some of the most dangerous plants in the world. It's home to over 100 species, some being toxic and many having the ability to seriously injure a person, just by touch alone.

It's a fascinating attraction that sees thousands of people through its doors every year and the garden was even featured on the BBC where some of the botanists were showing the wonders of the plants and animals inhabiting the site.

As a business, it's viewed slightly differently through insurers' eyes. There are many risk prevention provisions in place to stop people from injuring themselves by getting too close to the plants, but this begs the question... what if you have a publicly accessible land or garden?

Firstly, as a landowner it’s important that you recognise that you have a legal obligation for the liabilities of your land. This means that a duty of care is passed to you upon you taking ownership, and as such, you may be held liable for anyone who hurts themselves when visiting. 

This is both true for legal visitation and trespassing, due to the Occupiers Liability Act 1957, and the Occupiers Liability Act 1984* respectively. The duty of care is higher for legal visitors than for trespassers, but nonetheless it’s important for landowners to appreciate they should have liability in mind – even when they don’t intend to grant access to visitors.

If people hurt themselves when on your land, land liability can help landowners. It's similar in this sense to public liability and operates in an almost identical way – hence it will pay for both a legal defence for the landowner and for awards ordered by a court.

Prices for land insurance products will vary, but start from just a couple of hundred pounds and will depend upon the use (or prior use) of the land, its condition, location, and intent. For example, a grassy field will attract a totally different premium to a former mining or quarrying site. Furthermore, it’s important to note that land liability will also be necessary for various entities such as charities and trusts, businesses, private individuals, or even in probate.

 It’s now time to get back to the deadly garden, and for a moment, let's say that you, dear reader, are the proud owner of such a magnificent garden. You’ve created it as your own private allotment and not as a visitors' exhibition. What should you do?

How the Occupier' Act informs insurance practices

Well, according to the Occupier’s Act:

An occupier of premises owes a duty to another (not being his visitor) in respect of any such risk as is referred to in subsection (1) above if he is aware of the danger or has reasonable grounds to believe that it exists.”

This means we owe a duty of care to visitors or trespassers to warn them of the risks involved with the land even if we do not know it exists. So, in our case, we know there are several plants which could cause harm. It continues:

“Owes a duty to another in respect of such a risk, the duty is to take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case to see that he does not suffer injury on the premises by reason of the danger concerned.”

The duty of the owner extends to take such care as is reasonable given the circumstances of the risk. This means we should take reasonable precautions to protect the visitors. For example, if there were stinging nettles, we might warn visitors to stick to pathways, but in our case, this might not be sufficient – and we should take greater care to protect life and limb of those visiting, given the grave danger of our garden.

And so:

“Any duty owed by virtue of this section in respect of a risk, may, in an appropriate case, be discharged by taking such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances of the case to give warning of the danger concerned or to discourage persons from incurring the risk.”

Therefore, if we’re seen to take reasonable action to discourage and protect visitors from the risk of the site, we may forgo our legal liability to their injury should one be sustained, providing it’s seen that the warnings are clear, fair, and proportionate to the risk. 

In our example where we have purposely cultivated such a garden, what difference does it make?

Subsection (6A) does not prevent an occupier from owing a duty by virtue of this section in respect of any risk where the danger concerned is due to anything done by the occupier—

(a) with the intention of creating that risk, or
(b) being reckless as to whether that risk is created.

Therefore, we cannot discharge our duty because we have purposely done something to create risk for the visitor.

It’s worth noting that these are important and, although most landowners will not use the land to do something like grow the UK’s deadliest garden, we still have a responsibility to act reasonably in respect of managing the risks prevalent within land ownership. 

If you’re not sure about anything in this article, please do call us. We can help you find insurance products for land liability and a host of other scenarios.

So... how do you insure the UK’s deadliest garden?

The answer is simple, disclose all the facts to your insurance broker about what is in the garden and what it's used for. Additionally, if and how the public and trespassers could access your property, the steps taken to be a responsible landowner, and how you deliver a duty of care to any visitor, protecting them while remaining compliant with the Occupier’s Liability Act. Or better still, try not to grow some of the deadliest plants on the planet!

*Occupiers Liability Act 1984 (legislation.gov.uk)