The Secret Garden of Mt Tambourine

Set on five lush acres of Queensland’s finest forest, the magical world of Marks and Gardner Art Gallery is one that will take your breath away. If you can imagine a mix between Enid Blytons’  ‘The Faraway Tree’ mixed with Dahl’s ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’, you would be close and it would not be a stretch to think that a naughty pixie was going to burst out of a tree trunk right in front of you and pick up a paintbrush.

Of course it’s not the pixies doing all the work. Artists like Annette Lodge are turning out these national treasures that keep the kids entertained and warm the cockles of even the crankiest parents heart at bed time.

In 2005, Annette’s children’s picture book BIRD, published by ABC Books won a NOTABLE BOOK MERIT at the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards. Her most recent book NATEMBA, published by ABC Books was released in May, 2007 and is based on the plight of orphaned animals in Africa, for which she researched as a volunteer at a Vervet Monkey sanctuary in South Africa for 6 weeks where she cared for orphaned baby monkeys and wrote the story.

So make a day out of something magical and take a look at this gorgeous gallery.