Shazdeh Garden

Bagh-e Shazdeh was laid out in the 1870s for a Qajar governor on a slope outside Mahan, and its design answers the ground: instead of a flat fourfold plan the garden is built as a series of terraces stepping down the hillside, with a central water channel running the full length in a cascade from terrace to terrace, driven entirely by the fall of the land with no pumps. A pavilion stands at the top and a gatehouse at the bottom, with cypress, pine and fruit trees along the axis. The effect is heightened by what surrounds it: the walls stop and bare stony desert begins immediately, so the garden reads as a green rectangle imposed on an entirely dry landscape, which was the point of the whole Persian garden idea.

What you actually see

• A stepped water cascade - the channel falling terrace to terrace by gravity.
• Desert immediately outside the wall - green against bare stone.
• The upper pavilion - the residence closing the top of the axis.
• Cypress and fruit tree avenues - planting along the central channel.

When to go

March to May and October to November; spring is best for blossom and full water. Two hours. Late afternoon light down the cascade is the classic view. Iranian holidays fill it.

Honest expectations

The water is not always running at full flow, particularly in dry years, which flattens the effect. It is smaller than photographs suggest. Weekends and holidays are crowded with domestic visitors. The cafe is basic.

Nearby

The shrine of Shah Nematollah Vali is at Mahan; Kerman lies north-west.