buninyong botanic gardens

Beautiful spot located close by town centre. lovely spot to stretch the legs to break up a long journey or eat a nice home made salad sandwich lunch... BBQ facilities available to use so ill do that next time. Lovely huge trees to lay on the grass and look up at. Such a sweet spot amongst the hideous concentration of bricks and mortar humans call homes. Go here and sit for a minute :)

There are lots of old trees and a lovely lake in these grounds. Close by are the bowling green, housing and a primary school. I love walking around any garden and though this is not grand, it is steeped in history.

These are among the oldest botanic gardens in Victoria: they were established in 1861, and their 150th anniversary in 2011 is commemorated by a plaque near one of the gates. Bowling greens and a primary school and private houses press up close to the edges of the Gardens, giving the space more of an active role in local activities than you detect in more isolated and rarefied Botanic Gardens. Buninyong's Gardens are not especially grand or flowery; their strengths are their mature trees and a large lake (a former reservoir for the town) known as The Gong. An old windmill is a reminder of the town's past reliance on the water that collected in The Gong. If you walk around you'll discover a few old structures. There is a rotunda built in 1901 in honour of Queen Victoria. A sandstone building dating from 1858 served as an early courthouse. And a privately owned bluestone building at the boundary of the Gardens was the malt brewery. To the east the land slopes up steeply toward Hasties Hill.