Sim's Park, Coonoor, Nilgiris
Sim's Park is a public
park, located in Coonoor Town in picturesque Nilgiris Hills near Ooty Hill Station
in Coonoor Taluk of Nilgiris District of Tamilnadu. It is an important tourist place
to visit in Coonoor, at a height of 1780 meters above mean sea level. It
extends over an area of 12 hectares of undulating land and possesses a number
of natural advantages.
History
This is an unusual
park-cum-botanical garden that was developed around the natural contours of the
land more than a hundred years ago by Mr. J.D. Sims and Major Murray in the
year of 1874.
The Park
The Park extends over an area of
12 hectares. This is a natural garden, situated in deep ravine. The Nilgiris
has a unique tropical mountain climate, so the garden has the ideal climatic
conditions for growing flowers and trees. Temperature variation is less, and
the rainfall distribution is uniform in the locale, which results in a long
flowering season. The garden is visited by thousands of tourists throughout the
year and even in winter. The natural shola with winding footpaths all over the
higher slopes of the park is the most distinctive and picturesque are the main
feature of this park.
At the head of the gardens the
well-kept lawns, the artistically laid out ornamental beds, looking beautiful
and lacking no wealth of the flowering plants or shrub in great variety and
color are great feasts to the eyes. Naturally occurring trees, shrubs and
creepers are in the park as are many unusual species of plants that have been
brought in from a variety of places around the world. The main event in this
park is an annual fruit show and vegetable show held in May.
The garden has some rare
economic trees like Rudraksha - bead tree, Cinnamomum,
Queensland karry pine, a handsome ornamental tree and graceful trees like Araucaria,
Quercus, Phoenix, Magnolia,
Pine, Tree
ferns, Turpentine, Camelliathis
is all are as many attractions in this park. There is a glass house housing
different ornamental plants and flowers. On the other side of the park rose
garden are maintained. This park has more than 1000 species of 255 genres belonging
to 85 families widely covering different group of plants.
Section
– I:
It extends to an area of 0.85Ha
and forms the entrance of the park. The flower beds are neatly laid out in such
a way that they merge with the landscape. It has got a small hemispherical lawn
made up of kikuyu grass. Ashoka pillar at the center adds the charm to the
lawn. Nearly 80 tree species and shrub species of different families can be
seen. Acacia ducurrens, Eucalyptus ficifolia, Agathe’s robusta, Hymemospermum, Ternsfroemia
japonica are some of the above species. Quercus sessilifloia, cinnamomum
camphora, podo-carpus taxifolia, Bucklandia populnea were the old trees planted
in the year 1980.
Section
– II:
It comprises of an area of
0.42Ha. A Summer House is situated at the center. A well-maintained Azalea
hedge and shrubbery are the features of this section. It comprises of 38 number
of different trees and shrub species of various families. Some of them are
Cedrella toona, Dracaena reflexa, Elaeocurpus ganitrus, Araucaria bidwilli,
Sauraia nepalensis, Araucaria cookii, Camellia japonica, Magnolia grandiflora,
Prunus pissandii, Pieris owalifolia, Eucalyptus amygdalina, Cinnmomum camphora,
Juniperus sedfordiaha and Thuja filiformis. Among them, the ‘Araucaria
bidwilli’ is the oldest tree planted in the year 1885.
Section
– III:
It consists of an area of 1.
39Ha. There are about 92 different species of trees and shrubs hailing from
different families. Photinia lindleyana, Glochidon ellipricum, Vaccinium
leschenaultii, Acer laenigatum, Rhododendron arboreum, Eugenia calophyllioocia,
Ilex wightiana, Macararga indica, Prunus puddum, Meliosma arnottiana,
Peltophorum abricanum, Diospyros Virginiana are some of the tree species in the
IIIrd section. Among them, phofinia lindleyana in
the oldest tree planted in the year 1889.
Section
– IV:
It is consists of an area of
1.08Ha and the area is almost formed a green patch due to the presence of kikuyu
grass. A good view of the park especially the Island area, Pond Shola areas of
the park can be seen from this section. Nearly 71 numbers of different trees
and shrubs can be found in this section of the park. Cotoneaster frigid, Arbuts
rollionsii, Eucalyptus robusta, Casuarina marginata, Nerium oleandes, Cupressus
obtusa, Hypericum mysorensis and Sehima wallichi are some of the trees in the
section.
Section
– V:
It extends to an area of 1.38Ha
and forms the topmost terrace of the tennis garden. It accounts for 45 numbers
of different tree and shrub species of which Quercus sessiliflora is the oldest
tree planted in the year 1880. Michelia champaca, Albizzia falcate, Laurus
nobilies, Betula alnoides, Rhus succedanea, Sophora glance, Tristkaia conferta,
Alnusnepalensis are the important trees to be seen in the section.
Section
– VI:
It covers an area of 2.2Ha and
claims to be the biggest section among the 8 sections. It starts from the north
east portion of the park and ends in the south west side. Nearly 120 varieties
of different kinds of tree and shrub species belonging to different families
can be seen in this section. The two Eucalyptus eugenoides trees planted in the
year 1880 are the oldest trees of the park. The other important trees are
Eugenia Calophyllifolia, Celtis serofina, Golchidon ellipticum, Vaccinium
leschenaultia, Pinus lorgifolia etc. The tennis garden with beautiful blue
grass lawn surrounded by nearly 1000s of rose plants adds the charm to the
section.
Section
– VII:
It forms the area around the Island
garden and claims an area of 0.90 Ha. After the construction of stone structure
in the Island, the section is conveniently divided into two portions namely
Island garden and small Island garden. The rose plants of different groups viz
Hybrid types, Floribunda and Polyanthe types gives a pleasant appearance to the
visitors. Vaccinium leschenaultii planted in the year 1895 is the oldest tree
in the section.
Fruit
Show:
The two-day fruit show is
conducted in Sim’s Park, Coonoor during the last week of Saturday, Sunday of
May. The event is organized by the Department of Horticulture and has been held
annually for 56 years. It attracts about 25,000 attendees.
Connectivity
Sim's Park is located at about 1 Km from Coonoor, 3 Kms from
Coonoor Bus Stand, 3 Kms from Coonoor Railway Station, 20 Kms from Ooty Bus
Stand, 22 Kms from Ooty, 22 Kms from Ooty Railway Station, 17 Kms from Kotagiri,
36 Kms from Mettupalayam Railway Station and 73 Kms from Coimbatore Airport.
Private Taxis are available from Ooty and Coonoor to reach this place.
Location