Castlemaine Botanical Gardens

During our recent visit to Castlemaine in Victoria we stayed at the BIG4 Caslemaine Gardens Holiday Park. This park is in a lovely setting alongside the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens – in fact it was once part of the gardens and the original greenhouse sits beside the reception. Reception is housed in part of an old cottage which is heritage listed.  

To access the Botanical Gardens from the caravan park it is just a short walk across a bridge over the creek at the top of the caravan park, or another bridge  just outside the main entrance.  

We took a stroll around the beautiful grounds of the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens one afternoon and came across a medieval play was being performed in one section of the gardens which was very interesting. 

The children’s playground was extremely busy with plenty of equipment for the kids including a little wooden hut (open sides) with a stone chimney. This is apparently an award winning children's playground. Beside the playground is a car parking area and public toilets. 

There is a pond in the middle of the gardens which was very popular with a variety of ducks and water fowl. We discovered later that this pond was created by inmates from the Castelmaine Gaol. We saw some long beaked corellas eating the grass – they do make a mess as they use their long beaks to dig up the roots.

Our visit to Castlemaine was during Autumn and some of the deciduous trees around the gardens were showing their magnificent colours. Castlemaine Botanical Gardens is highly recommended for a relaxing walk while staying in the area.