Sir Harold Hillier Gardens & Aboretum

The car park is always full, and so parking is inevitably in the overflow carpark, walking through the green area up to the gate you can see Hampshire County Council (who run this garden) have spent a copious amount of tax payer money on making it look imposing. A modern structure houses the ticket office and resturant as well as a shop and gallery. The resturant is worth stopping in as they do good main meals for approxiamately £7 which are extremely filling and home cooked, the cakes are also delicious, but they do not seem to cater for special dietary requirements as they can only serve things exactly as the menu states. The entrance fee is very high, for a visit to a landscaped garden i think over £5 in an entrance fee in extortion. The garden is beautiful, in autumn you get to see the variety of colours from the changing leaves which in itself is impressive. There are several ponds and some clever landscaping ideas. Personally i like to visit when the roses are out as they are my favourite. If you fancy looking at the bronze sculptures which are by the ticket office, and the pretty water feature but don’t fancy the price to go in. You can go and look at the entrance to see these bits then have a picnic on the grass outside, there is a large grassy picnic area which is great for kids to run around while you visit the garden centre adjacent.