The Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

Well today we're in Butchart Gardens and it's one of the top attractions on Vancouver Island and little did we know it's like the theme park for gardens isn't it Gary? It's incredible but it's got a bit of an interesting history hasn't it? It has yes, so in 1904 Jenny and Robert Butchart moved from Ontario to here to open a concrete business and they used the limestone in this quarry for that business and when the limestone quarry was played out they turned it into these amazing gardens. So well it cost us $39.50 each to get in here so it's about £20 a head but there are concessions for military and young people and children so it's worth checking out what you can get a discount for. Also they let you bring your dogs so we've got our little pooch with us, the one we're looking after, we've got Mac with us today. Got to keep them on a lead and they've got little doggy bags all over the park to make sure that you pick up after them. So we're heading to the Sunken Garden and everywhere you look there is like hanging baskets, flowers are planted everywhere and the scent is just incredible. There's a little wooden hut right at the top of the Sunken Garden that you can actually see the whole thing from a really cute window. Look at this, imagine waking up to that view. It's absolutely breathtaking. So the gardens have 50 regular staff working here all year round and then in the height of the season in summer they take on an extra 20 seasonal staff as well so that's up to 70 people working full time to keep these gardens immaculate. So I don't really know what most of these flowers are but look at these beautiful flowers. If you know what they are please pop it in the comments below and help us out here because we're quite novice gardeners but I know how to appreciate them. So we're inside the bottom of the Sunken Garden now and honestly it's packed isn't it? There's loads of people all different ages, all different nationalities, it's very popular isn't it? I can't imagine how popular it is when it's like the summer season. Yeah. And if you come in the summer what they do is they have light shows at night so you can come in the evening it's all lit up. I bet Gary that would be incredible. Have you been at night? If you have let us know. So we've come right down to the bottom and look at these tulips. Obviously we're in the spring season at the moment so tulips are in but wow I've never seen such beautiful flowers. How stunning is that statue just looking out amongst it? She looks so serene. I know how she feels, it makes you feel really peaceful. It's wonderful isn't it Gary? And we've picked a really nice day for it. I can't even tell you how vibrant these colours are. They're just beautiful. Look at the rock here, this must be the original limestone Gary. Wow look at those. All the different gardens have a centrepiece of water in them and look at this absolutely stunningly peaceful. Wow look at this there's a viewing platform up here so we're gonna go up there and have a quick look. But here's the view from the top of the lookout tower and it really is well worth a look. Gary's been watching too much Yellowstone so he can't resist it. So there's a carousel that you can go on and it's an extra two dollars if you do want to go on it. So up by the totem poles this is where they hold the fireworks in the summer. Obviously the dogs probably wouldn't like that but I think in the summer it's a completely different ball game. Although it would be really hot here wouldn't it Gary? I think Mac would struggle if it was much hotter wouldn't he? We've had to stop a few times for some water haven't we honey? Looks like they're working on more areas of the garden over there. Oh wow here's the dragon fountain. Loads of lovely fountains everywhere. It's all water and flowers everywhere. So it's not the season for the rose garden. Come the summer this will be abundant with roses. Now if you are a massive rose fan this is the place to come and I believe there's over 900 varieties here. It's raining blossom literally it's just blowing everywhere isn't it? It's just a beautiful place to come. Now you'll notice that I'm filming with a selfie stick or you might not be able to see me doing it however there are signs everywhere saying you're not allowed to film, you're not allowed a selfie stick. What I did was I wrote to the guys here first and asked for permission and I suggest if anybody wants to do that that's what they should do. Always get a bit of permission. Another gorgeous fountain and this is the fountain of the three sturgeons. There's loads of families here but I would say the little kids are really enjoying it and everything but I do think it's probably an adult thing. We've just seen a few teenagers that look like really Here we go here's the entrance to the Japanese garden. Well for starters there's plenty of bamboo and I know that this is bamboo because we've got this in our own garden. It's got steps going down so again not massively accessible from this part. Oh look at this we've got a dragon here and the little waterfall. It's much more shady in the Japanese garden and I have to say thankfully because we've had to take our jumpers off we're roasting. It's really peaceful though just like little drips of water everywhere and like earthy tones. So they've got all these little structures and you reckon these are lights you say? That's quite inventive isn't it? It's very different in here it's almost very shaded lots of moss on top of rocks. It's completely different isn't it? Again everything is sort of themed around water and greenery and plants. Stunning around here. Oh definitely time to put my camera down if I'm going on these stepping stones. I made it across. Oh that's lovely that is. Look at that! Have you seen this Gary? It's kind of dripping down here and into there. That's beautiful. I love that. When it's full it tips out. So as you come through the Japanese garden you can head to Bouchard Cove lookout through this gate here. Wow another absolutely beautiful spot to come and have a look. What a pretty little lookout look at that. So we're going to head up to the star fountain now aren't we? Which it was that was one of the things I wanted to go and see. There's a few restaurants and bits and pieces here so we'll show you what's here. And there's toilets dotted around as well isn't there? There's quite a few all over the place as well as these dog water bowls. There's loads of them as well. Yeah they've really thought about making it comfortable haven't they for people. This is what I love Babs. There's loads of little hidden like secret bits to come and explore. I bet this is gorgeous lit up at night. We'll have to step back to show you the star fountain. You'll see it's in a lovely shape surrounded by the most beautiful yellow tulips. And here is the entrance to the Italian garden. You've got gelato vibes coming on already haven't we Gary? Oh yeah. Oh wow and again the water themes are running through it aren't they? So you have another fountain in the middle as well. There's your prices not too bad. A double ten dollars and a single is seven. That's actually really good. Loads of flavours look. I love this. There's a visitor's book to fill in as well. There's a massive queue for an ice cream Gary so we're not going to bother. We've actually got a ferry to catch haven't we? Yeah because we're quick enough. Yeah well if we miss this ferry we've got another sort of two hours to wait and we did that coming over didn't we? There are places to eat here. There's the poppy seed cafe I think there is and you can have an afternoon tea. Now we'd already eaten our lunch hadn't we because we've missed our first ferry but this looks like a lovely place to come and have an afternoon tea. A real celebration I think. That's lovely isn't it? Absolutely wonderful. So many must-see things in this garden. Gorgeous. So here is the poppy restaurant and they've got the menu outside which is really good. Not too badly priced. You've got soups like £9.75 for a bowl and your main dishes they've got curry $26. That's about £13-14. This is really not too badly priced. Well we've really enjoyed showing you around the garden. I know it's not our usual content. We'll be back to our normal RV self as of next week won't we? So there's a photo opportunity as you're leaving to capture this. You can slide the window open on this building look there and capture all of this. A little indoor botanical garden. Magic. So until next time guys if you've enjoyed this give us a like maybe let us know what your favourite garden was here and we'd love to hear from you. Have you been to Bush Hart? Do you want to visit? We'll see you next time when we're traveling through Canada picking up the RV and heading off to the States. So until next time take care everyone. Bye.