I visited this beautiful private garden last weekend. GATOP...Gods Answer to Our Prayers. I put some of the photos in a smilebox to share with you. We spent several hours walking around the 20 acres. The Dr. who created this masterpiece has lived there for 20 years. http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openThe ... d0d0a&sb=1
Awesome place! I knew I was going to love it from the first photo. I love all the rock walls/elevation. The frogs were just too cute! And the water features are just icing on the cake. Bet there was plenty more suprises around each corner.
Oh where do I start!! I love the house, the magnificent water features, the walls, the fantastic water features, the planting, the pathways and the beautiful water features. The sculptures are amazing and those frogs add a touch of whimsy that makes the grounds perfect. Did I mention the astounding water features by any chance? I could spend the rest of my life surrounding by such wonderful gardens. The water features (you may just have guessed are my favourites. I want to be there NOW!!
I enjoyed that tour Gail,..i wish i had a wall like those in that garden,..a beautiful location and well captured scenes,..thank you for sharing!.
So glad you all enjoyed it. I took about 300 photos...my friend and I were overwhelmed by the natural beauty of this garden. This is the write up in the paper that enticed us to this garden: GATOP, a labor of love, has many beautiful features that include a variety of native and imported trees and shrubs with a special emphasis on conifers; seemingly endless stone walls that define and encircle areas abundantly filled with wildflowers, ferns, as well as many types of plants and ground covers; and a myriad of ponds and gurgling waterfalls guarded by fanciful frogs. While walking along gravel-filled pathways, you will encounter large marble outcroppings and hear the musical sounds of water trickling and birds singing. A stroll down the hillside leads to a large grassy vale that gives one the feeling of being in a stately cathedral, and you will stand there enthralled by the magnificence of the surrounding forest, edged by the always present rock walls like wainscoting in a great, green hall. Many sculptures in bronze, stone, stainless steel, and copper are displayed throughout the property, each with its own personality. Some are imposing and others humorous, all symbolic of nature and the human spirit. A scene that everyone will take home in memory is a clearing in the woods located on the approach to the house. Edged with a background of waist-high stone walls, the manicured green lawn features a central reflecting pool with a magnificent bronze dancing figure in a place of great beauty, tranquility, and spirituality.
