The theme for our ‪‎travel pics this week is M for Madeira.

The Madeira Botanical Gardens in Funchal date back more than 50 years.

They were built in 1960, on land that was formerly the family home of hotelier William Reid.

The gardens themselves are quite lovely – and cover a whole range if flora, both indigenous and exotic.

But also on the site is a small but fascinating natural history museum, and the Louro Bird park with 500 birds of 60 species from around the world.

The gardens can be accessed by a cable car, or (like us) you can get a cab. Our driver dropped us at the top gate and then picked us up at the bottom gate at a prearranged time.