Longwood Gardens: A Vacation of Beauty.

 Today I am taking a break from painting ideas to revisit a favorite place.

Kelly's Korner is having a blog party of sharing favorite vacation places.

Living on a farm limits us from taking many over night vacation trips,

so we usually find enjoyable day trips instead.

My favorite day trip vacation is definitely the Longwood Gardens.

I would love to spend a good amount of time there painting the beautiful plants and landscaping.

The topiary gardens are impressive.

There are so many great places to walk:

 many gardens have structures and sculptures that take one to another era.

Wouldn't she be fun to sketch?

 We visited the gardens in the fall and at Christmas time.

 Both visits had beautiful sights.

Fall was a perfect time to stroll and see the colors.

 The kids enjoyed the outdoor train garden.

There was something about this garden that made me think of the ocean...

wild but beautiful.

 There is a grand conservatory for viewing spectacular indoor gardens.

Of course, the flowers change during the different seasons.

 For example, this was in the middle corridor in the fall.

The flooring is covered with water and visitors can walk around it.

 This was the same corridor at Christmas time.

 The grand Christmas display looks all ready for a fine Christmas feast.

Doesn't this area look like a medieval castle?

At Christmas there was a grand tree in the side room.

An indoor waterway garden spans the center of the main building.

 Off to one wing, a children's garden is full of fountain fun:

 

the kids enjoyed trying to catch the unpredictable spurts of water

and wandering through the child-centered displays.

 Different displays and moods are created with different flowers and foliage.

 My son was excited when we found the pitcher plant, sundew plants, and venus fly trap garden.

 During the Christmas display, ornaments, stars, and lights were everywhere...

even in the rose room.

Of course, Christmas tree displays made of every assortment were magnificent as well.

In one of the houses at the gardens, there was an intricate display in miniature.

Doesn't every girl dream of having a dollhouse with this kind of detail?

 The outside gardens were more enjoyable during our fall visit,
not so cold for walking.

The kids loved the tree houses...

 as well as the hike through the meadow.

 I was disappointed these Italian gardens with fountains were turned off for the season.

 but they were still beautiful.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the extensive walking we did,
the peaceful beauty of God's creation all around.

 We ended the day watching the musical water fountain.

At Christmas, we viewed the musical water garden in the dark,

and it was magical.

I am so thankful these gardens have been maintained and preserved for present day enjoyment.
(Thank you also to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and family for the tickets for the visits.  How fantastic!)

If you ever have the chance to visit, dress for walking and you will have a memorable day of vacation.

(If I get the chance to visit again, I will take my better camera and know the pictures will be that much better...and this is just a sampling of the gardens.  There is so much more there to see.

Also, if you happen to eat at the dining area, the cream of mushroom soup is just incredible!)

If you would like to read the history of the gardens, you can enjoy that aspect of it at this link: 

http://longwoodgardens.org/history

Thanks for stopping by.

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