babes in the woods
Filed Under Places | June 8, 2010
Many Vancouverites live in small homes with little or no green space, but luckily our fair city abounds with great, green places to play. We love our beaches, playgrounds and parks but an oft overlooked space to take your tots for some serious cavorting is VanDusen Botanical Garden.
Many of us are familiar with the Garden, if only because of their spectacular Festival of Lights each December but do you know the back story? The 55 acres of gardens are situated on what was once undeveloped land owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Then it became a golf course and after that a proposed subdivision. But in 1966 the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association together with the Vancouver Park Board, funding from the city, the government of BC and the Vancouver Foundation - with a donation by W.J. VanDusen, hence the Garden’s name – bought the land. In 1971 development of the Garden began and in 1975 it opened.
The Garden is a wonderful, safe place to allow kids to run free. There are no dogs, no cars, no enormous crowds – December notwithstanding – and no reason not to let your kids race around to their hearts content without continual exhortations to wait for you before they cross the road or or stay within your sight. Though we do advise exercising caution around the lakes and ponds.
Full of heaps of intriguing places to explore, kiddie faves include the Children’s Garden featuring unusual or bizarrely shaped plants and topiary figures of legendary local monsters such as the Sasquatch and Ogopogo; the maze, made of 3,000 pyramidal cedars which is just hard enough to be fun but not big enough to get scary; and the waterfall. Other enticing nooks and crannies include the grotto, the Scottish shelter, dells and meandering pathways. You can get a sneak peek at all this engrossing greenery via their virtual tour.
The Garden also offers children’s programs which are all about conservation and the environment and look out for Music in the Garden Family Day this August 15th. And because there are new things to explore and discover each time you visit, we appreciate that their family memberships are reasonably priced.
The only problem? We come home wishing we had grottos and wishing wells and water falls in our own (very small) back yard.
VanDusen Botanical Garden: www.vandusengarden.org
Photo credit: Jane Photo
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I love that you wrote about VanDusen Gardens. It has been my number one place to take my kids for entertainment, exercise, and learning about the natural environment. The best part about it is that I am just as happy to be there as my kids are. Just today I went there with my son and saw baby ducklings, turtles, and fish all amongst the natural beauty of the freshly blooming flowers and trees. And while spring is a great time to see the garden, every time we go there is something new and beautiful to look at. It really doesn’t get better than that.
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