A garden with a mission, New Brunswick’s Kingsbrae Garden covers 27 acres with more than 50,000 perennials in formal, casual and themed gardens highlighted by sculptures, ponds, streams, a windmill, a maze, and woodland trails.
Benches invite visitors to enjoy the flowers and the abundant birds, butterflies and bees the garden attracts. Raised beds in the sensory garden are filled with plants chosen for their fragrance and feel, and an entire area is dedicated to delighting children.
Beyond acres of beautiful floral displays and landscaping, Kingsbrae Garden is a cultural center, with works by contemporary sculptors placed throughout the gardens, and a large separate Sculpture Garden that displays dozens more, each in its individually designed setting.
Other local artworks are shown in changing indoor exhibits, and the garden hosts concerts and performances throughout the summer. Visitors can admire sculptures and flower beds from the terrace tearoom over lunch or afternoon tea.
Drawing 50,000 visitors each year to the town of St. Andrews, Kingsbrae is a garden with a very local mission. Its benefactors donated the 27 acres of their family estate and the initial $1.15 million to create the garden, envisioning a use for the property that would employ local people, especially those on the fringes of the employment market. Kingsbrae Garden actively searches for those who have trouble entering the workforce through poverty, lack of education or disability, including at-risk high school students, offering jobs that train them for advancement and future employment.
Written by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers
Europe Correspondent, Planetware
Luxury Travel Editor, BellaOnline
Features, Global Traveler Magazine
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Photography by Stillman Rogers
