A former private garden has flourishing mature trees dated from the 1860s. Enjoy the kids playground, the expansive lawns for an impromptu game of cricket, the stream and side paths leading to borders and flower beds. There is a paddling pool for warm summer days.In the mid 1950s Huia Gilpin, then Director of the Botanic Gardens, designed a garden for the blind to serve the nearby Institute of the Blind hostel ‘Fernwood’. This opened in 1964 and remnant elements can be seen as part of the Scented Garden today.