At Orange City Life we always like hearing your ideas, especially when it comes to pushing Orange forward. Over the past few weeks we have received quite a bit of positive feedback for our editor Bob Holland’s idea’s for a walk of art in the Botanic Gardens.

Sparked by Bob’s idea, we were contacted by a reader and life-long Orange local Ben Humphreys, who had his own thoughts on getting the most out of one of Orange’s most beautiful attractions.

“The Orange Botanical Gardens is one of my favourite spots to take my son and can be used all year round. The council have already done a fantastic job making the gardens what they are today,” writes Ben, who goes on to say that he believes the dam and water courses could be made into a real drawcard for the area.

“My son often says to me, ‘Dad, how good would it be if you could swim here’ and to be honest I don’t see why not,” says Ben.

“My idea would be to create a fun and interactive swimming area for younger children consisting of a toddlers pool/man-made lake or something similar. We could have chairs and tables set up with umbrellas to keep the sun away with water falls and water sprouts for the kids to play in. An adult swim area would also be great to have.

“I can just see the parents taking their kids to the adventure playground before lunch then setting themselves up in a spot over in the gardens where the kids can play around in the shallow water designated areas.”

Given Orange’s climactic conditions, Ben Acknowledges that such an area would only be usable in the warmer months, but even in winter it could make the area more aesthetically pleasing.

“During Winter it could be just as nice for people to walk around the gardens with a bit of water flow. There is something about the sound and sight of flowing water, it just seems to make the area better rather than seeing mud banks and dry causeways,” he said.

“Any water system that is put in place would have to be on a cycle to keep the water flowing all year round.”

On the topic of water, Ben also goes on to lament the removal of the waterway on the far side of Lake Canobolas.

“I remember as a kid how cool it was to play around in the water or just watching the water flow and the sound of the water flowing was peaceful and relaxing,” he says.

Those are Ben’s thoughts, what are yours? Do you think a water play area of some kind should be incorporated into the Orange Botanic Gardens?