Yorkshire’s Forbidden Corner

In the UK, the county of Yorkshire is home to one of the most unusual and amazingly wondrous places in the world.  It’s a simple set of gardens known by the name of Forbidden Corner, but there’s a reason they brand themselves as “The Strangest Place in the World.”  These gardens hold within their borders a land of fantastical adventure that, for a small fee, you can explore for as long as you’d like (and as long as they’re open). 

Forbidden Corner began as a private garden, almost a landscaping project with a set of strange themes.  The owner of the garden designed it to entertain his friends and guests, but when word got out, the decision was made to open it to the public.  It was put together throughout the 80s, finally being finished in the mid-90s and opened to the public in July of 1994.  Now, it’s the most popular children’s attraction in Yorkshire, though it sees more than its fair share of adult visitors.

The first thing that will alert you to the unique nature of Forbidden Corner is that when you begin your journey, you are provided with a rather unorthodox “map” of the gardens.  The map is actually little more than a list of pictures, each representing one of the sights to see.  It’s up to the visitor to navigate their way across the maze-like landscape and see if they can find each place on the list

While traveling through the gardens, one can expect to travel among woods, walled and hedged-in gardens, through tunnels and secret passages and into more than a few dead ends.  Just some of the many interesting elements include a temple, caves, off-sized creations to make you feel larger or smaller, and so much more.  The entire thing takes an average of two hours to see, but they’ll let you hang out as long as they’re open and it is, truly, the kind of place you could easily spend the entire day wandering through.  Luckily, there’s a snack shop on site so you don’t have to worry about starving.

If you’re in Yorkshire and want to visit, you’ll have to make sure to book ahead of time.  There is a limited amount of visitors per day, but there are discount family rates if you’re traveling in a group.  The gardens do have an operating season, this year opening up on March 28 and running through Halloween (and on Sundays through Christmas).  If you love the bizarre and fantastical, do not miss out on an opportunity to see the ForbiddenCorner.

All photos courtesy of Immanuel Giel via Wikicommons