Garden visiting with kids
Post categories: gardening with children
| 07:00 UK time, Saturday, 23 April 2011
Portmeirion Garden with wild flower planting along water cascade
The moment a garden labels itself as 'child-friendly' it has lost me. Child-friendly means playgrounds, and I detest playgrounds. The kids are irresistibly sucked towards them, and then want to spend the next seven and a half hours there, while I gaze longingly towards glimpses of flowering magnolias and bountiful plant centres, endlessly pushing a swing backwards and forwards, the very life force sapping out of me.
Hence the gardens I have visited with mine, aged three and five, have been at the 'non-child-friendly' end of the scale, even tending towards the 'more than a little perilous to small people'. It's almost become a point of principle: a massive garden to run around in, trees to hide behind and a bit of a picnic should be enough thrill for any child. And let that be a lesson to you.
Having said that, in west Wales two summers ago rather ticked everyone's boxes. The whimsy of the pretty, scaled-down, pastel-coloured houses was not lost on the children, nor were the hidey holes and little cobbled sets of steps. I got vistas and quirky bits galore and fell for hydrangeas in a way I never thought possible, and there's some gorgeous woodland surrounding the obvious bits to get lost in (metaphorically, hopefully) and settle down for that picnic.
I've found that massive greenhouses and oversized tropical plants shock them into submission, albeit temporarily. They were awed in the greenhouses of the , dwarfed by palm trees and glass. There's also enough space in the rest of the gardens for the requisite letting off of steam - running, jumping etc. - once that wears off.
Most of our garden visiting has been in the south west, and I really must give a shout to the , as it's the one garden that the kids actively talk about and want to go back to. I love it too, but I should point out that their passion is actually down to an extended bout of water play that we were forced to partake in on arrival (by the children: Eden is a bit too touchy feely for enforced aqua engineering). Piping, pumps, buckets, scaffolding, watering cans: fun, fun, fun, but mummy wants to look at the aeoniums. A tad too child-friendly, Eden, in my opinion.
The biospheres of the Eden Project
And so on to the south of Cornwall and my favourite garden to visit, which is also quite possibly the least child friendly in the country. The is perched on a cliffside, and flights of steep and curving steps have been carved out of the rock. You most probably wouldn't actually fall into the sea if you lost your footing, but you could certainly give yourself a nasty gash and a fright. In fact though, the kids laughed wildly at a brilliant little kids show, then we all clambered up the steps to the top where there is a garden of fabulous succulents and South African and Mediterranean plants. We sat - kids worn out - and ate icecreams, and looked at the sea, then bought plants and fudge, and there was not a zip slide, swing or roundabout for miles.
Lia Leendertz is a garden writer and is particularly well-known for her contributions to the . She also writes her own blog .
Comment number 1.
At 24th Apr 2011, helenreeley wrote:Yes, Minack garden is great for kids and when they're about five+ take them to the Minack theatre to see a Gilbert & Sullivan production or similar. My daughter says seeing 'Iolanthe' there aged five and a bit one of the most wonderful happenings in her childhood.
Any garden with a maze is good for kids if you can get over losing sight of them for more than two minutes-some parents would find this difficult. And a garden that says it's child friendly might as well have bouncy castle in my book...
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Comment number 2.
At 25th Apr 2011, shirl wrote:Hello Lia, sounds familiar, having ‘persuaded’ my daughters around gardens, I too looked for a different angle for them. Being local, Edinburgh Botanics is still a fav now. Just to add there are ducks, swans and other birds to see there too plus grey squirrels running around looking for any offerings of food which always catch the attention of visiting children.
Eden is still on our list but now at 20 & 18 it would be a different visit. I’d love to add my/our favs if I may :-)
was a surprise ‘good find’ for my girls with paths winding and straight, nooks, steps, giant trees. I can see them skipping along them. I can also remember at 10 & 8 we returned and armed with a video camera they had great fun making their own report on the visit. A new trend evolved :-)
is one I’ll remember fondly on a hot summer’s day. A full garden trail with questions and a parent each made for a competitive visit but it was discovering the massive Gunnera planting that made that visit memorable. After seeing the film a Bugs Life (current at that time) walking under the leaves was quite magical for 6 & 8 yr olds. We went home with the request of planting a Gunnera which we still have… it still isn’t tall enough for them to walk under ;-) Another surprise to Trebah was the small private beach at the bottom of the garden.
for young teens worked too… although they did miss out in catching water in buckets of mini JCB’s - we enjoyed watching the ‘little ones’ many of who came in wellies on a sunny day. Squeals and laughter were heard from the stylish/fun water sculptures. Fountains, large scale plantings and imaginative designs. I loved the walled garden but even there pebbled water rills had children exploring. This garden suits all ages. My persuasion for this garden was a visit to the giant Tree House for refreshments – we got there eventually. We returned too :-)
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