Destinations / The best places to visit in Canberra, Australia / Cockington Green Gardens

Cockington Green Gardens – Amazing miniature village

  If you want to make a trip in wonderland than the perfect place for you is Cockington Green Gardens. This it is a delightful and fascinating display of meticulously crafted miniature buildings set within beautifully landscaped gardens. Cockington Green Gardens is a beautiful attraction for its colorful gardens and miniature architecture. This is the almost two-acre display area that features many trees and shrubs with miniature growth characteristics. The village was opened in 1979 and from then delight visitors with its magnificent. This place is one of Canberra’s landmark attractions and its buildings and houses are scale models of their full-size counterparts in Great Britain. This place offers an experience you will not find anywhere else. Because it’s so popular and so often visited, the park is constantly growing in its display area.

Village History

  The interesting village was named after the old-fashioned small village of Cockington in Torquay, Devon. In 1972, Doug & Brenda Sarah, during a visit to England, they stopped and visited the Model Village at Babacombe near Torquay in Devon. After they visited that amazing place they were so impressed that, when they returned to Australia they decided to research the possibility of construction of a similar display in Australia. After about 12 months of research into the financial viability, model construction and availability of suitable plants and shrubs, the decision was made to proceed with the project. Late in1976, they started work on construction of the Main Entrance building and landscaping the display.

The structure of the village

  The Cockington Green Gardens is divided into two main areas namely Original Display Area and International Display Area. The both areas have amazing views spectacular and colorful gardens.
  The original Display Area is the oldest area in the village and comprises the English Village. Being the original display area, it is an amazing, colorful tiny British village depicting their daily life, sprawled on beautiful and tidy gardens. Taking a walk on the village streets is an amazing adventure and you will be amazed of design of itch house. Walking through the area you’ll see the collection of miniature houses, with tiny people and farm animals, trees, match of cricket and a local footy match in a spectacular landscape, you will find a lot of surprises as you stroll along the path. One of the main features of this area is the famous Stonehenge and the hand cut Turf Maze which offers an intriguing visual challenge.
The International Display Area is an extraordinary collection of buildings from around the world. Here you can find a great number of breathtaking buildings from Asia, Europe and other places. The project has gradually grown into a wonderful multicultural display with over twenty-one countries currently represented.

The Main Features of the Village

  The Cockington Green Gardens is a great place to go with the family and enjoy its picturesque places and amazing views. So, one of the main attractions of the village is the Rose Room indoor exhibition, featuring ‘Waverley’ a 34 room Dolls House. This is a Georgian Style house and has a stunning exterior design. On the intriguing miniature of all that you'll definitely enjoy is the Miniature Steam Train Ride. It is a half size replica of a Fowler Cane Loco and operates on a 12" gauge track and has a drive configuration of 0-4-0. Also here you can see the amazing labyrinth, which is very famous among the exhibits.
After a pleasant ride through the village, you can enjoy a coffee in the Parsons Nose Garden Café, or bring a picnic lunch. It is a great chance to make a picnic in such an incredible place. So while you take a rest, your littlies can be entertained in the play ground or a favorite for them place Playtown, which encircles the International Display.

 

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