This is a beautiful little park with a lot of areas to explore. When you pull into the main parking lot, you find yourself in a busy area featuring a large red barn, a playground, and an open air shelter. If you head to the left, you can cross a little bridge over a creek that takes you into a very nice natural play area, which includes a slide, a ring of boulders to climb and jump from, the aforementioned creek that you can enjoy some creeking in, and a little wooded area with a mini dirt trail. The playground and open air shelter were packed when we visited, but the natural play area was completely empty. We enjoyed the opportunity to fully explore and try out each of the activities. If you continue along the paved trail up the hill, you can take it to the left to visit a small prairie and head up a connector to a greenway trail, or you can take a right and loop through Gantz Park.
As you loop around, you'll find a lovely gazebo surrounded by beautiful flowers, and then another bridge that takes you into the gardens area (which is located to the right of the parking lot when you are facing the playground and red barn, so you could also just go straight there if that's your interest). The gardens are very fun, such as a rain garden, a community-type garden, native plants, herb garden, knot garden, and the like. In addition to the beautiful plants, there is a lot of wonderful art and sculptures throughout, and a very nice labyrinth to walk and get some nice meditation in. It was very relaxing despite its proximity to the noisy parking lot and playground.
Well worth a visit whether you're getting out with the kids or looking to enjoy the gardens! read more