A Mystic Pool, a Serpent's Lair...and Racing Piglets

Autumn's nearly here, the leaves are turning brown, the nights are drawing in, and Hallowe'en is but a few weeks away. What better time to visit an enchanted forest?

Groombridge could have been taken straight from a fairy story, an Edgar Allen Poe mystery or an E. Nesbit fantasy. It's a great place to round off the outdoorsy weekends of the summer and fuel a winter's worth full of fireside fairy stories.

What's more, there's something for everyone. For the cynics who just don't believe in fairies, magic, ghouls and goblins, Groombridge Place Gardens provide a respectable afternoon's ramble through formal gardens created 300 years ago by horticulturalist and diarist John Evelyn.

For kids and the young at heart, however, the adjoining Enchanted Forest is reason enough for a visit. Here, magical, mystical gardens thread through an ancient wood peopled with creatures and characters of fairyland and the forest.

Both the formal gardens and the Enchanted Forest make up the grounds of Groombridge Place, a Restoration house not open to the public but steeped in history. Built on the site of a medieval castle, Groombridge Place was once the grand home of the Packer family, but in the 18th century it fell into the hands of smugglers.

Later, in the 19th century, Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a regular visitor to the Groombridge Place to take part in seances, and he even used it as a setting for his novel The Valley of Fear.

Maybe that's why even the formal gardens at Groombridge have a mystical, other-worldly atmosphere. The Drunken Garden gets its intriguing name from ancient topiaried junipers, and two wicker men sit silently on a bench in the Knot Garden.

There's also an Oriental Garden, a Nut Walk and a Secret Garden, and a giant chessboard graces the Sculpture Garden.

The Enchanted Forest is where the magic really starts. This ancient woodland laid untouched for centuries and is now carefully landscaped with 'interactive' gardens which inspire the imagination.

The Serpent's Lair features giant spiderwebs made of hazel and saplings, the Mystic Pool is surrounded by mirrors and symbols, Tree Fern Valley is a mini-rainforest and the Chime Walk is decorated with wind chimes.

The Village of the Groms and Mossy Bottom are where the miniature houses of the 'little people' can be found, and Romany Jo greets visitors in her gypsy camp and tells fortunes.

Many animals live in the Enchanted Forest, including lemurs, wallabies and Polynesian pigs, which wander freely alongside the visitors.

Animal events which certainly shouldn't be missed are the fantastic flying displays by the Raptor Centre's birds of prey and the twice-daily piglet race, when five little porkers race around a track in pursuit of pig nuts!