Allerton Park Champaign Visit

Photos are here

Sunday April 15th 2007

It was a bright sunny day at champaign - which is a rare happening . yday was cold, freezing and raining. We - vivek, self , Mini, and Jayesh left in vivek's car at 10:30 am to see the "Moms Weekend Flower and Garden Show." at Stock Pavilion, Urbana. This show was put up by undergrads of horticulture dept. and the theme was Apple and Ipod - the rock culture . It was an enthusiastic effort in landscaping and creative display of flowers and plants. The lush profuse geraniums. petunia flowers, the cute pitcher plants and others stole our hearts. Real green apples were kept floating in water. This reminded me of the fabulous flower show held every year in Empress garden pune.

After spending an hour or so we dropped Mini at her residence and drove off to Allerton park about 45 min. drive. My expectations were not very high as I had come to associate woods (trees and grass beneath) as park in US.

But Allerton was a pleasant surprise. Vivek showed as around the conference rooms where he used to attend conferences regularly . This place is simply fabulous , it was Allertons home, and I imagine Robert Allerton who has donated his property must have lived like a King in his days. The conference room with huge central hall, adjacent Oak Room , Pine Room, Butternut Room, rest rooms, huge cafeteria , library, entertainment area in basement, bedrooms upstairs , a beautiful bar room, faces the lake surrounded by woods. The wood work is of superior quality ( Jayesh wanted all of them in his house ofcourse - he kept saying i like this i would like to have it in my house - i teased him we will have Jayesh Park after his death he would be donating to US govt ofcourse) and finish as also the lamps and chandeliars. Every room boasted of all facilities for a conference like huge TV, and exuded a serenity when we sat there. The whole place seemed very peaceful to me.

I remembered the magnificent exhibits , art and architecture we come across in India everywhere when we visit King's palaces and temples in Rajasthan, Hydrabad, Mysore anywhere

We walked out of this building into the lake and took a walk along the garden and it is breathtakingly neatly landscaped lawns, trimmed lush greenery, walls covered with trained fruit trees ( ???? ) long long long pathways, statues here and there. One must venture only with a proper map other wise one can get lost as the place is gigantic ( 600 acres ) . This landscaped walk leads to virgin jungle with narrow paths for walking. The thickly wooded jungle has the river Sangama flowing thro it . I felt this walk was so like in Hindi movies (Urmila matonkar and Fardeen khan in movie Jungle ) and it is in the lap of mother nature. We thoroughly enjoyed this nature trail and after quite an exhausting trek were glad to return to civilization.

Jayesh was hungry and happily we sat under a tree and ate all that i had packed for this picnic. Lesson : Always carry good food , drink and water. So we picnic-ed near the FuDog garden. Here there are 18 porcelain Chinese dogs which Allerton had colleced and now they sit (THE DOGS ) royally in a special garden he built for them ( Who will build a garden in my memory?). The garden had a intricately designed ornate white watch tower with a tiny spiral staircase and 2 Budda statues at the base.

We drove back home by 3:30. Yet another unforgettable day at champaign for me.

Check out Allerton photos by clicking here


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More information on Allerton from their Web site :-

Allerton Park is a part of the Office of Continuing Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The facilities include a Visitor Center, public park areas with formal gardens, a conference center, a diversified farm site, and vast natural areas. The 1,500-acre park is located 25 miles southwest of Urbana-Champaign near Monticello, Illinois with easy access off I-72. The property was given to the University of Illinois by Robert Allerton in 1946 for the following purposes:

Use as a public park

* Visit Allerton Park
* Hold a conference or retreat
* Hold a wedding
* Rent space for a special event
* Volunteer to help at the Park
* Make a gift to Allerton Park

Education and research

* Environmental programs (includes day camp)
* Diversified Farm
* K-12 teachers
* UI Faculty
* UI Student opportunities
* Research projects

Natural areas conservation

* Deer management
* Exotic species management
* Ecological restoration


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