Gardens
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London Parks- London, England
You can learn a lot about a city by exploring its parks and gardens. A quality city properly funds and maintains these green islands, which act as a refuge for visitors and residents alike. As much as I love a bustling downtown, a park gate is an invitation to leave the chaos behind, and enter into an urban oasis. A place of fountains, flowers, and statues; winding paths dotted with memorials to founding fathers, long dead artists and explorers. London has an astonishing array of parks; in fact, 47 percent of the city is green space. Hopefully there isn’t anything else you wanted to see while in town.
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Dumbarton Oaks Gardens- Washington, DC
Dumbarton Oaks is just about the perfect appellation for a grand estate. It conjures images of an imposing manor house, surrounded by a leafy, verdant oasis. This is exactly what awaits you on the other side of Dumbarton Oaks substantial, yet ornamental, iron gates. And while the Colonial Revival mansion is magnificent in its own right, it is the garden that steals the show.
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Oatlands Plantation- Leesburg, VA
Not far from the nefarious reaches of suburbia, Oatlands stands as a reminder of Virginia’s agrarian past. Not all of that past is pleasant, but it is important to learn about, and the remaining house and gardens are a must see for historic architecture enthusiasts.
