Maymont — Attraction in Richmond

Wow. Just wow. Amazing place to visit as adults, plenty of stuff for the kiddos of all ages (including mid fifties). Before you go, take a minute to visit their website for special activities, special hours and events. Also, to register and pay for any fee based things you'd like to do there.

First, the setting and grounds are simply astounding. Right on the James, and minutes from Carytown in Richmond and seconds from Byrd Park. Beautiful mansion, 3 different types of gardens, magnolia trees as big around as boxcars. Tranquil and simply visiting is FREE. Paths wind through the grounds so it's pretty ADA accessible.

There is a free tour of the mansion (strongly recommended as this is one of only a handful of Gilded Era mansions left in the country), the 3 gardens (Italian, Japanese, and Herbal) are free to admire (and be sure to check out the man-made waterfall!), and you can freely visit the carriage house (lots of antique carriages of all types) and the farm (yes, a working animal farm!!). It's also free to walk through the wild nature preserve and use some of the trails for biking. There is a picnic shelter with full amenities about the size of half a city block, plenty of restrooms and snack machines very discreetly scattered over the property. Hours are normally 10 to 5 and this place is HUGE. You probably can't see it all adequately in one day.

Now for the paid parts. You can get a private guided golf cart tour of the grounds, there is a special house tour guided by one of the maids, and the animal farm puts on some paid exhibits (we took "Get to Know the Goats" at $8 apiece, and it was well worth it... They are adorable and you and the kids can feed them and the goat handlers show off their tricks and are full of goat lore) and all of the paid exhibits include admission to the Nature Center. Ah yes, the nature center. You could spend half a day just in there. Activities and hands on stuff for kids, exhibits of the James River watershed, and a full James River aquarium featuring everything from flounder to snapping turtles to otters. Yes, live otters. There are Master Gardeners on hand to show you how to properly plant seeds (which you can take home) and domesticated animals from chickens to bison, with experts on hand to tell you about each one. (If you're a home schooler, this place is a MUST). As if all that weren't enough, you can book a romantic or group carriage ride of the whole estate. Bring comfortable shoes; we probably walked 7 miles crisscrossing the grounds, and they're moderately hilly.

Parking is free, and there are 3 lots depending on your focus (farm, nature center, mansion). Visit their website for detailed info, directions, estate maps, and current activities and prices. If you're in Virginia or visiting Richmond, this place...

Saw online that the glow garden was the thing to see you while in town. Bought tickets online for myself and my partner. I was really excited that they had a staggered entry hoping that it wouldn't be terribly crowded. With all the pictures and the way the website dictated the event, we both thought it would be a wonderfully romantic evening to walk through the beautiful lights and just enjoy each other's company. It was packed. You are single file through several of the trails. And for those that are not aware there are a ton of stairs. This is not a handicap accessible event which made me sad. The walkways we're so jammed with people. And there are a lot of kids. Well, I could see that this event would have a wonderful ambience with the beautiful music they were playing in the lights. There were so many people that it really took away from the feeling of tranquility. Was really excited that this was in a Japanese garden but because everybody was lined up like it was Black Friday to get down the trails you really couldn't take it all in. I do understand why they say plan for 90 minutes for this event because you have to work around a lot of people. The staff was very nice. However, I don't think $15 a person is remotely appropriate. Considering you pay half that for a drink. For alcohol you have to buy tokens in advance and then trade in the tokens to get alcohol. It's a very weird system but I see where they get your money up front and maybe you don't drink as much as you thought you would so that can likely be very profitable. They did have a human size light bright which was very cool but so far off the beaten path that we didn't realize it was there until we were leaving.

Definitely a family event. So if you're looking for romantic stroll with your loved one, this is probably not going to be it.

Overall, I was underwhelmed by the event. Would I ever come back? No. I Don't see the value in coming back.

Suggestions: do a couples night or adult night. Have more lights or activities in the common area. There were so many kids running around and no enough bench spaces or activities for families to keep them entertained. Not enough signage. The signs for certain areas weren't well lite or even easy to read.

Since you served alcohol and we could drink while taking in The lights I didn't think there would be so many kids. I have children and was honestly looking for a night away and this was...

Have been here on several occasions the garden itself is beautiful. Entry is free though there is a suggested donation of 5$.

This time the review is for Garden Glow event.

The even was kind of ok. Smaller area was covered than I expected. The crowd turn around was good...we reached at 6:30 and had to be in queue for about 5-8 mins before we got in to get in ( basically for the ticket verification) and then again for 15mins in 2nd queue after the village ( for the village had food beverages other stalls).

After that it was beautiful the entrance as well as initial work and small things that were made out of light. There are couple of nice place to take pictures but as it was mostly dark taking selfies and pictures of your family and friends was difficult you can get good photos of the place for sure.

Parking was free but around 1mile from the park walking with kids could be little painful i recommend dropping kids and family at the gate and then going to park. If possible take separate ticket for person going to park the car, so others can get in and be in the village for him/her to join. Or may be find street parking near event.

Overall decent experience but i expected more :-).

Also attended the Easter festival which was too crowded to my liking but kids...