The gallop extension at Botanical gardens is a funky new extension to the UNESO heritage site. It’s a spot of greenery and play, let’s explore what’s on.
Gallop green is primarily a green space with some walking trails, therapeutic gardens and two gallery museums.
It is named of the road it sits by, which branches by from Tyersall road. Though it is actually located out of the regular botanic garden ground across Gallop roads. The road here serves mainly several bungalow housing In the area as well as a link to the Bukit Timah area.
Also, you enter via the Gallop gate, which is its own separate from Botanical gardens. Paid parking is available and is usually not full. However, the gardens are not exactly very accessible without private transport. It is also a 25-minute walk from Botanic Gardens MRT.
Vast Park Greenspaces
The park has an open field popular as a dog run for visitors and picnics. It provides a nice view with the colonial gallop bungalows in view. The bungalows are now galleries which we shall visit later in this post.
Moreover, this Gallop park extension is a relatively new 8-hectare addition to the Singapore Botanic Gardens already 74 hectare size. It brings the total area of the entire gardens to 82 hectares.
Additionally, the Mingxin Rambler’s Ridge. It is an easy trail with some flowering plants, as well as an exploratory trail comprising of a walk through a secondary forest with a stone stair trail climb near some water features. Also, do take caution as the stones can be slippery when it rains.
Moreover, the OCBC Arboretum Forest is tad a working forest. Here you can find a sparse garden area home to a variety of local plant species. It is always a work in progress. The arboretum is opened from 7am- 7pm, similarly timed to the park opening and closing times.
Here, you can find interesting hidden trials to explore within the foliage. The Discovery Centre OCBC Arboretum is open 9am- 6pm daily and closed every last Monday of the month.
Gallop bungalow galleries and museum
Furthermore, new additions include two conservation buildings refurbished into mini galleries and a museum. They are called the Botanical Art Gallery and Forest Discovery Centre.
Forest Discovery Centre galleries
Moreover, the Forest Discovery Centre is a mini nature gallery and function space. It is built into one of the old colonial bungalows here.
Additionally, the museum starts on the second floor elevated via a walkway bridge. The building is raised with ground floor housing toilets and a small cafe.
Also, the forest discovery center has a mini nature gallery covering the Singapore wildlife. Here, you can find several wall photos of the history of the bungalow estate, this includes old photos of gallop road.
Botanical Art Gallery
The Botanical Art Gallery are Singapore’s first permanent display of botanical art.
Moreover, the galleries are housed within Gallop House No. 7 (Inverturret). It is the second and larger of the refurbished conserved building built in 1906 spanning two floors with a front porch.
Here, the air-conditioned galleries houses Singapore Botanic Gardens’ collection. It includes more than 2,000 botanical paintings spanning two floors. The artwork does bear a resemble by those drawn by William Farquhar who documented Singapore early plant life which you can view at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
Also, you can find hundreds of hand-drawn sketches, line drawings and photographs. You can be here for even up to an hour exploring all the exhibits.
Additionally, the gallery highlights the vital role that art plays in the scientific documentation of Singapore and regional plant botany. It aims through education to inspire through art renewed appreciation of the natural world around us. The Botanical Art Gallery is open 9am – 6pm daily and closed every last Thursday of the month.
COMO Adventure Grove
Moreover, the COMO Adventure Grove is one of the family-oriented playgrounds great for kids. It introduces nature to children through play. Also, the COMO Adventure Grove are part of the exploratory family friendly elements in addition to the Mingxin Rambler’s Ridge and OCBC Arboretum.
In addition, here, you can find various custom playgrounds themed to modern interpretation of gardens various distinctive parts of trees.
This sprawling large outdoor playground offers a timeless experience of swinging, sliding, climbing and playing in trees. It is tad a throwback to the vast playground that used to operate in the 90s.
Some notable playgrounds resembles the warty surface of a giant Cempedak (Artocarpus integer), the pod and seeds of a Saga tree (Adenanthera pavonina) and the aerial roots of the Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina). It does make you appear in the scene of Honey I shrunk the kids.
Additionally, Furthermore, do note that the COMO Adventure Grove has a limited opening hours from 7am- 7pm. Also, no dogs are allowed in the play areas and sandpits. Also, the COMO sector too is home to a cafe as well as public toilet amenities.
All in all, the Gallop extension is a nice welcome to the Singapore botanical gardens. It nicely blends nature with learning, museum and play in a package great for all ages for an afternoon with nature.
