The Enchanted Maze Garden

My first garden stop was to The Enchanted Maze Garden – this would be a fun place to take your kids on a nice day … there’s something there to please both adults and children alike. When walking through the garden entrance gate, one of the first things you see sticking up out of the main maze is this wee fella … and there’s a quirky tone like this throughout the entire garden.

There are different ‘theme’ gardens – for example the “Tile Garden”, which has a beautiful magnolia tree surrounded by pieces of tiled artwork planted throughout the garden plot … the “Enchanted Garden” has whimsical fairies etc dotted around … and the succulent garden is gorgeous (just love those terracotta pots) … and the “Christmas Garden” has a topiary arrangement of reindeer and a sleigh.

There is a mix of different styles of artwork and sculpture throughout the gardens (you can click here to find out more about the artists and their work – and more abou the gardens themselves of course) – I especially loved the marble sculptures near the pond. Unfortunately it was the wrong time of year to go there, as the gardens in that area are bare … it will be superb in summer when the flowers are in bloom, and I’ll definitely be taking another trip out there later.

This was one of my favourite places in the whole garden – I just love this sculpture! It was so incredibly peaceful standing and looking at it, listening to the water running … ah, bliss!! 😀

There are a number of different mazes – there is a brick maze where you follow the brick path (no chance of getting lost here, as the maze is at ground level!), a children’s maze where each corner is set aside for different settings (such as dinosaurs, jungle, beach), a kid’s playground with three separate brain teaser mazes (loved the tyre one below), as well as the more traditional large hedge maze (which I have to admit I’m not a great fan of, so I didn’t go in).

There is also a tiny wee petting zoo for the kiddies (with a sheep, goat, chickens, and ducks) … and a sculpture walk through the bush, where the main focus is on the artwork by Ken Blum – those carvings of aboriginal people are stunning! To top it all off, you are surrounded by the peace of the bush, with lots of native birds flying overhead … I managed to recognise a few, but there were loads I didn’t know.

Here’s one more sculpture that I really love … and very unique to Australia, I guess … the Swagman (OK, altogether now … “Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda ……..) 😀

At the end of your time here you can buy souvenirs or lollies from the gift shop, or have a bit to eat … but I had things to do and places to see, so I just hit the road and went off to the next gardens on my list – Ashcombe Maze & Lavender Gardens!