Sandy Hill Nature Park

This week, I visited Sandy Hill Nature Park in Freeport. I heard about this place through a friend of mine, and the way he talked about it, made me want to visit. Months passed and all that I knew about it was on their website, and then a few weeks ago, I saw that TTSPCA was having a family day BBQ and country market there, so right away I let my family know about it. I organised a few tickets for the BBQ, but otherwise, entry was free on this day, then headed down with my sisters, cousin, nieces and mother for a day with a difference. The location was easy to find, but a bit of a rough ride for my small car. Driving up to the place, you immediately realise how detached you feel from the city and civilisation. It's green all over, lots of trees lining the path where we parked, and the fresh air was welcoming. When parking, I noticed lots of cars, expecting the place to be very busy, but because of the large area it covered, it seemed very quiet and sparse with people.
As you entered, there was a booth selling tickets for horse rides, as well as various drinks, and surprisingly, they were giving away kites to kids as well. Further in, were all the booths with people selling their wares. Plants, jewellery, clothing, even food items, one in particular I enjoyed were some locally made sauces, including pepper sauce, garlic and chadon benni sauce and a smokey green tomato chutney (my favourite). Another table had some guys selling freshly squeezed juices with no additional sugars or preservatives, all natural, the grapefruit/pineapple mix was amazing. Behind all the stalls were the BBQ chefs for the day, cooking away, while people were collecting their meals, and even further on, were tents with seating for the patrons. Many kids were riding around on bicycles that were available, others were swinging on swings attached to cashew trees around the area. There was a tractor with a trailer modified with some seating that was taking people around the park, it passed by a large field that had amazing views, next to the field was a volleyball court where children were knocking the ball over the net. Beside the volleyball court, was another large area, used as a second car park, where children were flying the kites they got when they entered.
While all the kids were playing around, all the parents were either browsing the many tables of items for sale, or sitting and relaxing with their coolers of drinks. It was a really great atmosphere, very relaxing, even though later on it started to get a bit more crowded, it never seemed busy or cramped up. Ample space for everyone to enjoy, and you barely noticed any noise from the kids at play. Even though I did take my camera, I hardly took any pictures, spent a lot of the time hanging out with my cousins son, but here are a few of him and the surrounding areas.