Snow time: Hunter Valley Gardens transformed for winter

Hunter Valley Gardens have been transformed into a winter wonderland over the NSW school holidays.

The ice toboggan run at Hunter Valley Gardens.

Open garden: Hunter Valley Gardens, Broke Road, Pokolbin, NSW. Marketing manager: Katherine Danvers. Snow Time: Daily until July 12.

DESCRIBE THE GARDEN: Hunter Valley Gardens, cre­ated by garden lovers Bill and Imelda Roche, covers 25ha. It features 10 themed areas including the Oriental garden, rose garden, the lakes walk, Italian grotto, Chinese garden and a French parterre garden.

The storybook garden is a favourite with children for its larger­-than-­life nursery rhyme characters and topiary animals. A 10m-­high waterfall thunders down into the sunken garden, while the Indian mosaic garden has a contemporary design of chequerboard purple ajuga and gold acorus with curry plants adding their spicy aroma.

WHAT’S SNOW TIME ABOUT? We transform a section of the gardens into a winter wonderland during the school holidays, offering 13 snow-related activities for families to enjoy. The ice skating rink is fitted with disco lights and music, while the Snow Ball Challenge sets up some friendly competition throwing snowballs over the net.

On Saturdays and Sundays at 10am, 11.30am, 2pm and 3.30pm we have husky dog racing demonstrations by internationally competitive teams and trainers. On weekends we also have different breeds of snow dogs on show between 10am and 2pm, featuring Siberian huskies, Darcalsbella border collies and Bernese mountain dogs.

International ice sculptor Kenji Ogawa will create animal ice sculptures on stage using a chainsaw each Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 2pm. For those with a need for speed, there’s the 25­m toboggan track to get the adrenalin pumping. Families also can step into a giant snow globe to enjoy snow effects without the chilly atmosphere. Other activities include face painting, storybook garden jumping castle, roaming entertainment and a mechanical snowboard.

BIGGEST CHALLENGES: The snow-making is a big undertaking, especially when daytime temperatures can be 20C. We make it once or twice a day, feeding the machine more than 400 tonnes of ice across the festival period. We also have to deal with a lot of water run-off from the ice rink and snow play area. It’s essential we prevent the garden areas getting waterlogged.

FAVOURITE PART: I love seeing the amazement of little kids experiencing snow for the first time. We also see lots of friends and families linking arms together on the ice skating rink, which is really rewarding.

WHAT’S LOOKING GOOD IN THE GARDENS: The Oriental garden is a tranquil place with its large lake, red bridge and traditional pagoda. The camellias will be flowering in the surrounding manicured garden, which has the largest lawn of zoysia grass in Australia. I also love the lakes walk, which is a bit away from the rest of the gardens so it feels a little bit private. Although it is at its peak in spring, it is still beautiful in winter.