Exbury Gardens are stunning to behold. I don't know where to begin with this 200-acre garden. We went down for the Azaleas and the Rhododendrons and were not disappointed. There was so much variety to see.

When we first arrived, we met the lovely car park attenant and went in. This was the only bit I was a bit miffed at. It was that we didn't know which entrance to queue for as we had prebooked tickets, and there were 2 queues but no signs. In the end, I guessed that the smaller queue would be prebooked tickets, and I was correct. We then went through the very small shop and had the tickets scanned, which also doubled as an exit and entrance, which made getting through a tad difficult.

However, once we were through, everything was very relaxed. We found a map and started exploring. We walked along a tarmac path and over the Gilbury bridge, and it was gorgeous everywhere we looked. We went past the old bell and descended into the labyrinth of foleage. We we went through twists and turns of colour, which I loved as it felt we were getting lost but in a beautiful place.

We made it down to the top pond, which I remembered a long time ago had fish but instead had lots of tadpoles. It was probably my favourite bit of the garden as we went down the cascades and over bridges and hopped from stone to stone. It was actually surprisingly accessible for prams despite the warnings of rough ground. Eventually, we made it down to the stunning Azalea bowl, which was breathtaking. So tranquil and colourful.

As we went back up the hill, we went through the daffodil meadow to the newish centenary garden and the sundial garden. Both with their unique looks with the Wisteria out in the sundial garden and the amazing layout of the centenary garden, which had a detailed map for where each plant was located in it. Quick pit stop off at the loos and on we continued past countless flowering Azaleas and Rhododendrons.

We went down lovers Lane and did a loop of the Witchers wood. Then, after seeing countless flowers, we decided to have a spot of lunch up at the Sakura Cherry Orchard's picnic tables. That's another thing I would love to mention. There was so much seating provided all around, which really helped my family as not everyone can hike for hours without sitting down, so we greatly appreciated it.

We then went back on ourselves over the Glbury bridge and then went left down to the boardwalk, which isn't really like how it looks on the map. On the map, it's a weaving path. However, in reality, it is like a T junction with 2 sides having steps, so we went in one side and then just went back on ourselves due to a pram.

Down, we went to the Jubilee pond, which had gorgeous flowers growing beside its stream, which I didn't know the name of, but they were very pretty. We continued round the outskirts of Exbury past the Augustinii Corner, the American Garden, and the Doomsday Yew. We finally came to the prestigious rock garden, which didn't disappoint. In fact, most of my group exclaimed it was their favourite garden. It was hard to disagree due to all the smells and visuals that were presented there. There are so many different looking plants, too, like a climbing hydrangea and weird looking bamboo. Really loved it, and it felt like an adventure traversing the rocky path.

We made our way past the bog garden to the train station where we somehow came across what we believe was an old English sheep dog owners meet up as there were around 16 different old English sheep dogs all with different owners around by the train station. It was very odd but cute. Anyway, tangent over, we went aboard the train and went on our little ride around and saw some brilliant animal sculptures.

We were exhausted and hot after such a long day out, so we treated ourselves to ice creams. We then went back to a very hot car and went home.

Overall, I really loved exploring Exbury and will definitely come back next May. Hopefully, next time, I won't have a pram so I can explore more of the labyrinth of Azaleas and Rhododendrons. Loved this place.