Stroll around the world – or step back in time. With a little imagination, both are possible at the Hamilton Gardens.

That’s because the unique municipal gardens are based on the concept conceived in the early-1980s by Hamilton Gardens director Dr Peter Sergel –that there is a story to tell about gardens, their uses, their development over time and across cultures.  

These stories unfold as you follow a maze of paths leading to gardens so distinctly different from each other, that within a few steps you are transported to another place and time.

There are the productive gardens. Te Parapara Moari Garden, Kitchen Garden, Herb Garden and Sustainable Backyard Garden – complete with hens – with take-home lessons on how to grow fruit and vegetables.

It is the Paradise Garden collection, however, which provides the most contrast. There’s a stark difference between the Modernist Garden with its blue swimming pool, white abstract art installation and Marilyn Munro image; and the Japanese Garden of Contemplation with its rustic pavilion, minimalist raked garden, and lake surrounded by maple-trees.

These are but a few of the features, including the Roger’s Rose Garden and the Rhododendron Lawn and a host of art works, which occupy the 54 hectare site that is today so different from its beginning back in the 1960s.

Back then it was a bleak city rubbish dump covered in blackberries with seagulls circling above. Remnants of the gardens’ earlier history as a pre-European Pa, British military post, Victorian rifle-range and dog-dosing station lay scattered across the site. 

Marilyn Munro’s image is a dominant feature in the Modernist Garden.

Today, more than 40 years later, the gardens are an award-winning attraction, internationally recognised for their unique concept: The history, context and meaning of gardens. Dr Peter Sergel’s concept for the gardens has also been compared to a museum, where each garden collection has historic integrity and provides a window into the story of civilisations, their arts, beliefs and lifestyles. More than 30 years later, Sergel’s sketchbook designs are almost identical to the themed gardens existing today. 

Hamilton Gardens is located on State Highway 1, just south of central Hamilton. Access from Cobham Drive by either Gate 1 or 2 will take you directly to parking near most of the main facilities, including a café and information centre. During the weekends you are more likely to find plenty of parking from Gate 2.

To find out more, see: http://hamiltongardens.co.nz