Winter Park

It was just after breakfast and we had only two days of our holiday remaining.

During the previous two weeks we had sampled the delights of Walt Disney World and Universal Studios as well as venturing further a field with trips to the Kennedy Space Center and the Gulf of Mexico down at Clearwater.

We were actively discussing what to do for the rest of the day and the consensus of opinion was to try somewhere completely new with the proviso that it was no more than an hour’s drive from our base just south of Clermont.

Friends had spoken to us previously about the delights of Winter Park and, as it was somewhere none of us had visited before, it quickly became the obvious choice.

Winter Park is located just ten minutes north of Orlando and can be accessed from the I-4 by exiting at intersection 87 and taking US426 for a couple of miles. The downtown area is extremely pleasant with tree lined avenues, art galleries, museums and some rather upmarket shops and restaurants. The district exudes affluence and it would come as no surprise to share with you that Winter Park is home to some of the rich and famous which have included golfer Nick Faldo and actress Summer Phoenix.

Away from the main thoroughfares the Old Winter Park district boasts buildings over a hundred years old and meandering brick avenues are flanked by huge camphor trees draped with Spanish moss to provide that old colonial feel and ambience.

The local parks are plentiful and beautifully appointed. Worthy of note is Central Park which hosts a number of events including the well attended Annual Sidewalk Arts Festival in late March. It also draws thousands of visitors to its spectacular rose gardens and gushing fountains.

There are a number of arts and heritage museums that may be of interest with the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art housing the largest collection of Tiffany glass to be seen on the planet.

Sitting adjacent to a chain of lakes Winter Park can offer the visitor scenic boat tours that give an interesting insight into the locality that includes not only wildlife and flora but also provides a close up glimpse of some of the more opulent properties along the waterfront.

This really is excellent day out that has something for everyone ranging from a little retail therapy downtown right through to enjoying a leisurely stroll along the lakeside boardwalks.

Winter Park may be considered affluent and expensive but it costs nothing to visit and the riches on offer to the visitor are not to be missed.