Short Courses

Terms and Conditions

Cancellations

• RBGE reserves the right to cancel a short course, in which case you will be fully refunded for the course fee. We regret that RBGE is not liable for any expenses incurred due to a cancelled course.
• Short courses require a minimum number of places to be sold in order for them to go ahead. If this minimum is not achieved by a week before the start date, we reserve the right to cancel the course and refund any places booked.
• Some courses may not be able to run if the Garden has to close due to high winds or other severe weather. We will make every effort to give you plenty of notice of any cancellation. For this reason, it is important that you provide us with a telephone number and email.

Refunds

If you need to cancel your booking, please email education@rbge.org.uk as soon as possible. The cancellation is effective from the date your communication is received and is subject to the following charges:

• For cancellations with more than 4 weeks' notice we will refund your payment less 15%.
• For cancellations with 4 weeks' notice or less we will refund your payment less 50%.
• For cancellations with 1 week's notice or less we regret we are unable to refund your payment unless there are exceptional circumstances. However if we are able to fill your place at short notice we will offer a 50% refund.

Transfers will be treated as a cancellation and a re-booking unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Substitutions will only be accepted if the substitution is for the full duration of a course.

Discounts

Members of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh receive a 10% discount on all short course fees. This is the second marked price for each course unless otherwise stated.

Online Courses

If you need to cancel your booking, please inform the Education Department in writing (by post or email education@rbge.org.uk) as soon as possible. The cancellation is effective from the date your communication is received and is subject to the following terms:

You are eligible for a full refund within 14 days of payment, minus the value of the course available and accessed (e.g. if the course has 10 units and you have accessed one, you will receive 90% of the course fee as a refund).

Terms and Conditions

• Short Course Gift Vouchers are valid for in person and online RBGE Short Courses only and are not valid for Certificate or Diploma courses.
• Short Course Gift Vouchers cannot be used for any other RBGE product or service.
• Overpayment of course fees cannot be refunded (although several courses can be booked with a single voucher and vouchers can be taken as part-payment).
• Short Course Gift Vouchers are valid until the date shown on the voucher. The course booked does not have to run before the expiry date of the voucher, this is simply the booking deadline.

Members of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh receive a 10% discount on all short course fees. This is the second marked price for each course unless otherwise stated.

Please check your latest members newsletter for the current discount code and enter the code at checkout to apply your discount.

Click here to find out more about joining as a member and supporting the work of RBGE.

If you have an RBGE gift voucher with a code beginning with EDU or COV, you can use the voucher code to cover a portion of the course cost.

Enter the code at checkout to apply your discount.

Please note that these gift vouchers now have an extended expiry date of 16th December 2024.

Short course gift vouchers

We no longer sell general use short course gift vouchers, but if you would like to purchase a specific course as a gift for someone else, please book through our Gift a Course form.

Treat someone special with the gift of learning this Christmas.

A course from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a meaningful gift for any special occasion and every purchase supports our work to build a positive future for plants, people and the planet. 

We have a selection of courses available including evening courses, weekend courses and online courses.

How to book as a gift

To buy someone a place on one of our courses as a gift, please purchase the course via the online shop and then call us on 0131 248 2937 to discuss your gift options.

Alternatively you can buy a Short Course Gift Voucher which can be used on any short course by calling the office.

Vouchers can be sent by email (free of charge) or by post (£4 for 2^nd Class or £5 for 1st Class). They can also be personalised or sent with a blank card for you to write your own message.

You will be able to choose whether you’d like the voucher to be sent to you or directly to the recipient on your behalf. Please note vouchers will be sent once payment clears, we are unable to schedule delivery for specific dates or times.

Our short course terms and conditions will apply to any course booked as a gift.

Office open hours: Monday to Friday 9.30am - 4.00pm