Christchurch, the city known as "God's Backyard"
🌿Christchurch, known as "God's Back Garden", has more than 600 parks, the most famous of which is Mona Vale Garden. This garden is not only the jewel of Christchurch's gardens, but also won Christchurch the honor of being the world's number one garden city in 1993.
The history of Mona Vale Gardens can be traced back to between 1899 and 1900, when British wealthy businessman Frederick Weymouth and his wife Alice purchased 4 acres of land and built a two-story red brick and stone house modeled after the British Tudor architectural style. In 1905, Weymouth sold the estate to Anne Quayle Townend, who named it after her mother's hometown of Mona Vale, Tasmania, England.
🌳Townend then purchased 9 acres of land, expanded the estate, and introduced many rare flowers, plants and trees in New Zealand, personally turning Mona Vale into a large-scale private garden. In 1939, Tracy Goff purchased the estate, added a lily pond, and planted azaleas and more exotic trees in the gardens, adding a different aesthetic to the gardens. In 1962, the estate was sold to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In June 1969, enthusiastic citizens of Christchurch donated NZ$55,000, and the Christchurch City Council made up the remaining NZ$135,000 to purchase the estate and turn it into a park open to the public and tourists free of charge.
🌺Monaville Park covers an area of about 5.5 hectares and is a typical traditional Victorian manor. After continuous renovation and expansion, there are now lotus ponds, azalea gardens, camellia gardens, iris gardens, rose gardens, fuchsia gardens, coniferous forests, maple gardens, etc., with flowers blooming all year round. The original manor villa building has also been transformed into a restaurant and cafe, becoming a leisure place for nearby residents and visiting tourists.
🌊The beautiful Avon River runs through it, the water is crystal clear, and the scenery is elegant and graceful. Clusters of tender, yellow-green Miscanthus, Agapanthus, Hosta, Anthurium, Calla Lily and other flowers dot the riverbanks on both sides, making the scene picturesque. Various birds were foraging on the shore, flocks of wild ducks and swans were playing in the water, and eels in the river were swimming leisurely. The streams, villas, lawns, gardens and woods are well-organized and elegant, with flowing water under small bridges and lush grass. It feels like being in the romantic atmosphere of Cambridge, England, and is like an ideal fairy tale world.