The Lilly Pad Village — Attraction in Talking Rock

If you’ve ever wondered about a secret garden where your stress just melts away let me tell you you’ve found it! Pulling around the bend this little place may not look like much, the magic starts when you pull in! Our adventure started with 3 little gremlins needing to use the restroom and let me tell you these were the cleanest portable potties I’ve ever seen! Our walk brought us to the little main shack where we were met by the magic man who build it all by hand! ( Shame on me I forgot his name) he was the most wonderful warm man and welcomed everyone like family! He played jokes and gave out trinkets for the kids we started with Minigolf and as you putt putt around the forest I admired the fact that all is handmade with so much love carved out on the side of the mountain in between the trees. Like a true fairy tail! Definitely bring your sneakers and slip resistant sandals this is no walk for high heels! :) it’s very affordable for every family and you are guaranteed to have a wonderful time! The gem mining was so worth it too the kids had fun! The women doing the gem mining was such a breeze and so refreshing and caring! We even got to fish and caught a little bluegill. There is space to eat your lunch make sure you pack a cooler it gets pretty hot up there but thankfully there is refreshing ice cream for sale to cool you down! Our magic man even was equipped with a first aid kit when my son got bit by some bug or wasp. He was so kind and handed him some ice cream and he was so caring like you are family! This little piece of heaven is family owned and deserves all the 5 or more stars for making the day so pleasant! I promised to leave a review so here we are! Hope to go back one day greetings from Bradenton FL it’s nice to escape into...

We came here twice. First we did the mini golf. It's 9 holes, dug and laid by hand. It's not a pro level course, but there's some challenge to a few of the holes. The scenery is beautiful in among a lot of really old trees (that wouldn't have been there if they used machines to clear and build the course). We actually played in the rain but with the tree coverage we didn't even get wet. You can easily lose a ball if it goes off course. I went and retrieved it, as well as 4 other balls that had been lost in the same area. The next day we came back to do the gem mining and the kids had a great time. Staff helped point out to the kids when those pretty black stones were really just tightly packed sand that needed to be broken up. The kids loved all the gems they found. We went with the second size, a white bucket. Split for 3 kids it took an appropriate amount of time, I'd say maybe 20 minutes or so to go through it. HAVE THE KIDS WEAR THE APRONS! We neglected to do this and had a 5 year old with a very red/brown shirt. On the way out we checked out the two ponds and looked at the Koi and watched some boys fishing in the big pond. There also appeared to be an area to sit and eat, but with plans to cook over a campfire we had to leave. The gem mining was in the top 3 of all the things we did for two of the kids. The third asked repeatedly when he could play mini golf again. Appropriate for all of ours ages 5-10 (and I kinda liked the gem mining for myself too). Don't forget to pet the...

We had an AMAZING experience here!! 12/10 recommend coming here for your gem mining experience! We got the 4lb bucket for $68 which is a great deal because it’s as many gemstones as you can fit into four 1lb buckets. You are guaranteed to find cool gemstones and we even found not one but TWO rubies! Any review that says this experience isn’t worth the price or the trip would only say this because they did not immerse themselves fully into the adventure. We were there for an hour and a half sorting through dirt to make sure we didn’t miss a single worthwhile gemstone (every gemstone you find is worth it but specifically the rarer ones). The owner was extremely knowledgeable and helpful as well as his fluffy partner in crime Max:) You 100% will not regret coming here if you are truly down for the full experience. I also purchased a beautiful ruby necklace that was very reasonably priced. I will definitely be coming back to this location in the future (I’m a huge rock nerd) for not only the extremely friendly staff/supporting family businesses, but also for the amazing things that you can find. In the meantime I will be checking out their newly added online shop “Variety of Nature” which is still under construction, but will soon be filled with amazing gems and jewels as well as...