Semiwon Garden

Semiwon was opened in 2004 on the riverbank at Yangsu-ri with a practical purpose behind the aesthetics: lotus and other water plants filter nutrients out of the water, and the garden was built partly as a demonstration of using them to clean the Han upstream of Seoul's intake. The name comes from a line about washing the mind by watching water. It is laid out as a series of ponds and channels crossed by wooden boardwalks and stone paths, planted with lotus, water lily, iris and reed, with pavilions, a hexagonal pond modelled on one at a royal palace, and a long bridge, Baeryeon, connecting through to Dumulmeori. Lotus flower from late June into August and that is the season - the leaves stand shoulder high and the blooms open in the morning and close through the day, so early is better. Outside summer the ponds are bare and the garden is a quiet walk rather than a display.

What you actually see

• The lotus ponds - the summer flowering across the water gardens.
• The boardwalks - the paths threading between the pools.
• The pavilions - traditional structures around the garden.
• Baeryeon bridge - the link through to Dumulmeori.

When to go

July and August for lotus, in the morning when the flowers are open. Outside that season the ponds are largely empty and the ticket is harder to justify.

Honest expectations

It is a seasonal garden - out of flower it is bare. Entry is ticketed and combined with Dumulmeori access via the bridge. Summer mornings are hot and humid, and mosquitoes are present.

Nearby

Dumulmeori is over the bridge; Yongmunsa's ginkgo is up the valley.