My Newest Favourite Thing: Cook Park

One weekend in Orange, about a year ago, I had a day to myself, so I went to an art gallery and a museum, as you do, and then I went to the local park to read my book and smell the flowers. I thought it was a beautiful park and it was bursting with the sights of early autumn. Australia is beautiful, but the eucalpyts can sometimes be a little monochrome, so I revelled in the bright hues and varied colours.

The 4.5 hectare parkland is named after Captain James Cook and was originally laid out in a traditional Victorian design in 1873, with straight paths and rows of trees. Much of the original design is still in place, and the trees include elms, oaks, lindens, poplars, redwoods, cypress and ash.

There are bats or flying foxes in the trees, and apparently they aren't popular with everybody. 

The 1908 Bandstand

The cast iron James Dalton fountain was donated in 1981 by a prominent Orange townsman (as in, a townsman from Orange; not Donald Trump) and wealthy merchant. It features three storks, a fern frond decoration and four boys with urns standing on a plinth embossed with acanthus.

The James Dalton Fountain

There's an 'ornamental lake' (duck pond) complete with tortoises, and picnic tables and play areas.

I've always liked a glass house, probably because they remind me of when my mum used to take me to Kew Gardens to look at the tropical plants. The Blowes Conservatory in Cook Park features lots of bright and beautiful begonias. Signs tell me they are highly regarded and award winning. I think they're pretty.

The Blowes Conservatory

The Bastick Cottage is named after father and son who served the park as curators and lived in the Victorian-style heritage building until 1970. It is now used as a craft shop where visitors can buy handcrafted goods including pottery, knitting, woodwork and homemade jams. 

Bastick Cottage

Times change, obviously, and it is unlikely that anyone would be fined five pounds for riding or driving a motor cycle or a bicycle in this park today. Since I visited about a year ago, there is probably a petition to have it renamed, as the reverence for things considered colonial has come up for heated debate. As it stood, however, the name on the gateposts was proudly picked out in fresh paint. Who knows how long this relic will remain.