Schnormeier Gardens

Thursday 27 June
The main reason for this get away was to visit Schnormeier Gardens in the rolling hills outside Gambier. These are private gardens, the labor of love of Ted and Anne Schnormeier, begun in 1996. It began with the construction of their Frank Lloyd Wright inspired house, which was completed in 1994. Ted made his money through Jeld Wen, a window and door company, and then investing in property. The gardens are Asian themed, as that was one of their favourite areas to travel and acquire art. Unfortunately Anne died from cancer a few years back, but Ted still lives in the house, and at 90 will still often be seen riding around in his golf cart, conversing with visitors. They only open to the public Thursday through Sunday during the month of June, and they limit the intake, to avoid wear and tear on the grounds, so reservations are required. I first heard of them a few years ago when we were staying in a Bed and Breakfast in the area, and the owner mentioned them to us and showed us a book he had on them, and I have been wanting to visit ever since. When I mention them to people very few people have even heard of them! Apparently, when Ted dies, he is leaving the house and gardens to a community foundation, and maybe then they will be more readily accessible. I took so many photographs, I had a job choosing just 6 or 7 to make a collage. Thankfully, as you can see, the weather cooperated today and we were blessed with dry sunny weather, and not too hot like it was last week. There are numerous lakes, with masses of water lilies, several waterfalls, Chinese garden, Japanese garden with a Japanese tea house…
We spent the whole morning there until 1pm, then went for lunch in Gambier, before doing the remaining segment of the Kokosing Gap trail