That's how I explored four sections of Sim's Park of Coonoor!

Ooty and Coonoor are like Queen sisters of hill stations. People who visit Ooty surely pay a visit to Coonoor and its famous tourist spots too. Sim's Botanical Garden is one of the major ones. You can spend your whole day exploring every nook and corner of the park. Because I almost spent more than 6 hours exploring the park like an excited lost kid. If you are into greenery or a plant or tree lover, then this botanical garden must be on your bucket list to visit in your lifetime.

After one fun hour of travelling in a toy train from Ooty, we reached Coonoor. Soon after we came out of the station, a few auto and taxi drivers approached us with travel packages. But we weren't interested in every single spot of Coonoor as we were exhausted from the previous day's explorations at Ooty. Hence, we all decided to chill at a place where we could roam, rest, relax and get ourselves captured with exotic backdrops. And what else could be better than a garden that's extended up to 12 hectares with various kinds of plants and trees with lake views? So we all went to the park in two autos and they charged us 1oo per auto. The entrance ticket was 30 rupees per person. The park timings are from morning 9 to evening 6.

The tickets looked like old postcards that I saved as souvenirs. We all entered the park and walked forward for some time until I felt like exploring the whole park on my own and alone. My pals respected my decision because they were aware of my me-time scenarios. So I held back myself at the entrance of the park so that I could explore right from the beginning but they all went together to some place where they could take some rest, indeed to sleep.

The park is segregated into four sections that include a lily pond, rose garden, greenhouse and boating area. This botanical garden consists of more than a thousand varieties of plants and trees that hold the history of centuries and decades. As it is established in the late 19th century, this is named after a British officer, then secretary of government J D Sim. We can get this information from google too but you can get the experience only when you witness it with your naked eyes.

Then I started to explore all the well-pruned plants in various shapes edged with tall and huge trees with their names attached to them with all the details of the scientific name, Indian name and the age of the tree. Some details amazed me because they were centuries old and planted by people who must have died ages ago. Then I went walking till I reached the boating area. So if you ever want to visit this place only for boating, then walk straight to the edge of the park where you find huge lake premises.

As I have already experienced boating at Ooty lake, I wasn't much excited about the boating over there as comparatively, it was small but cosy. Kids should enjoy boating. The lake is mossy and surrounded by huge trees around and their shadows fall on the lake beautifully. The maintenance was okay. I walked along the edges of the lake to capture some scenic views and to see how families were embracing their time at the park.

After that, I crossed many narrow paths that were beautifully bordered with plants and also crossed many arches that were pruned as if they were architectural pieces. These arches and seats at this park were Instagram-worthy backdrops. Then I found a rose garden with hundreds of varieties of roses of various colours and breeds. As we visited in December, it was indeed the best time to visit a hill station, especially a park that separately maintains flowering plants section for its visitors to explore and enjoy.

We should only watch and enjoy because it is prohibited to pluck and throw. They all were well-maintained with constant cleaning, watering and fertilizing with many staff members wandering around to keep up with the cleanliness of the park so that visitors and tourists won't feel uncomfortable and can enjoy themselves peacefully. After watching all the flowering plants and sitting on the side benches to take warmth from the sun amidst those chilling winter temperatures, I headed further to the section I loved the most.

So after a good search of half an hour, I found them at a place where they all laid back and slept to relax and rest under the shades of trees, on the grass floors under the sun and cool breeze. I thought of joining them, but only after witnessing one last section of a lily pond. It's a small secluded place in the centre of the park with pink and white lilies, you can see lotuses too. On one side you can see the steeped-up park and on the other end, you see a pruned lettered slab with a globe on it that speaks Sim's park in huge planted letters. On one corner, there was a lake with boats with two bridges allowing visitors to pass and cross the lake cinematically and on the other corner there was a rose garden with stairs connected to the greenhouse that lead paths to the exit.