Duke Farms

Some more astute readers should be able to catch on that I've been to duke farms before for work. We did a lot of work there last year and I finally took their tours to learn more about the estate. I had some idea of what the tours would be like. We would be travelling via bus and I thought there would be stops and we'd get out for some photo ops. Well good news first. The early spring flowers and flowering trees were in full glory.

The bad news is that there were no bus stops to get out. We were allowed once to go to the open bus door to take a pic of this remote controlled waterfall. This below pic is through the glass at my seat.

This is the same view from the open bus door. Notice anything weird about the below pic? I ALWAYS see waterfalls that fall right into a lawn. So yes, it's a closer shot. But it's a horrible vantage. Plus only three people got up to take a pic.

We did take another tour which we were allowed to walk around a small portion of the estate and surrounding woods. Here's a burned down hay barn now used as a sculpture garden. I'm sure its amazing when the vines are blooming.

Duke seems to be at the forefront of green thought....at least for NJ standards. They are planning a whole bunch of renovations and upgrades to the property. The new revamped tour will have stops on the bus tour where you can get off and hang out. They have special meadow parking areas that look like hayfields but can hold cars without having the cars be stuck in the mud under normal circumstances. So I'm really looking forward to these new changes and the green building design.

There were a bunch of daffodil types that I had never seen. These had a peach colored interior.