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Thursday 6 February 2020

The Surrealist Garden


Today is a public holiday – Waitangi Day.  It commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between Victorian politicians and Maori chiefs, but to many people it is simply a paid day off work.

The weather was cooler this morning with a lot of cloud cover, just right for an enjoyable hour’s walk at our local Hamilton Gardens.  A new garden was opened on Monday – the Surrealist Garden – so I took the opportunity to go and see what it looked like.


The Surrealist Garden is “a garden that explores the mysterious world of fantasy and the subconscious mind, with distortions of scale and surreal garden features.”  For myself, it was more like falling down the rabbit hole in Alice In Wonderland and entering a garden where everything was larger than life.  Or had I grown smaller?


The garden entrance is through a tunnel which opens onto an area of giant “trees” before reaching a large enclosed area.  The “trees” are giant structures with ivy growing over them, and some of the limbs move (mechanically) which fascinated the children present.


Inside the “garden” are giant tools – a spade and a fork – as well as a massive wheelbarrow.  I think every child I saw had a go at climbing or swinging off that wheelbarrow!


This corner of the lawn gave the feeling that your eyes were playing tricks on you, because surely a pathway is flat?



A massive door adds to the Alice In Wonderland feeling, and looks to have a future as a Selfie Spot.


There are noses decorating some of the garden (sorry, the photo is not that clear) instead of flowers.  This is all surreal, remember, a bit like a bad dream.



I watched a grown man stand beneath the tap and pretend he was having a shower.  His children thought he was hilarious.




There was a caution at the garden entrance that read:
“Caution:  The topiary in this garden won’t move fast enough to trouble most people but keep an eye on young children, the elderly and anyone who may have fallen asleep dreaming strange dreams.”

This is definitely a different style of garden, one that brings a bit of fun into life and makes visitors leave with a smile on their faces. 

Margaret.

20 comments:

  1. It is an adventure! What fun for the whole family!

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  2. What an interesting garden!! I can understand why children and adults alike would be intrigued by the oversized trees, implements and even that door.

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  3. What fun. I'm often amazed at the imagination of nzers. Fantastic place for all the family

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  4. The garden is an adventure for every age, thank you for sharing.

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  5. I suspect that most people everywhere know few details of their national holidays; as you indicate, for most it is simply a day off.

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  6. That's very clever and I think it will give lots of families a great deal of fun, but I actually find it quite disturbing, especially the moving trees. Then again, I never did like Alice in Wonderland!

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    1. The first time a "tree" waved one of its arms, it was the creaking noise that gave me more of a fright! The children all found it fascinating though.

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  7. it's definitely down the rabbit hole - did you see a white rabbit with a watch?

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    1. No LOL. He was conspicuous by his absence - perhaps he was running late somewhere else!

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  8. What an interesting garden - I love those ivy covered trees, we have some old stumps of trees in the wood and this would make a perfect covering.

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    1. It has taken a couple of years to grow the ivy up these. It was interesting to see they had planted several plants on each "tree" all fairly close to each other.

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  9. OH! I so would love to see these...they are all so fun. Cannot imagine what it feels like to walk there.

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    1. I think it could be a bit spooky if you were by yourself and it was getting later in the evening. But lots of people were there when I visited.

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  10. what a cool place! the ivy around the fireplace reminds me of a type of Victorian wallpaper.

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    1. I believe it is made to look like wallpaper. There were other pictures as well, and did you notice the two marble eggs on the fireplace mantel?

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  11. Oh, a wonderful garden and yes, just like Alice!
    Wow, thank you for sharing, this is awesome!

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  12. Oh my goodness! It is so beautiful there, not only the garden but your header picture. I want to move where you are! I love that wheelbarrow and the path that curves up. What a neat garden.

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  13. Our quirky NZ way of doing things. Love it.

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Thank-you for visiting my blog. I love it when you leave a comment so please feel free to have your say. Have a great day! Margaret xx