South of San Francisco in the town of Woodside, one can step back in time to an earlier era of refinement and luxury. Filoli Gardens is a place where one can imagine life of a bygone era. Visitors can explore a large mansion built in 1917 in which only two families have lived. They can also explore the beautiful gardens around the home. Of course none of this comes free, but if one is willing to pay the price, they can explore this lovely location.
Since Andrea had purchased our tickets online, we arrived at our predetermined time of 1:00. It was a Friday afternoon, and the place seemed pretty busy. After checking in, we decided to explore the house first.
Built in a U shape, the home has a courtyard area in the front. As we entered the home, the living room lay directly ahead of us. One could easily tell from the furnishings that this was a family who enjoyed luxury. An older couple originally bought the property for their retirement home. After their death in 1936, A large family purchased it and enjoyed it for nearly 40 years before they decided to give it to a trust to maintain and keep. The home and garden are now registered historical locations.
Turning left from the living room, one comes to the large formal dining room. Turning left after entering the dining room, guests enter the kitchen area. There are two parts to the kitchen. One is seemingly for setting up the food with plates and dishes. One unexpected item here is the large safe in which they store the silver items. Past this first kitchen is the actual cooking area with stoves and prep locations. On the other side of the hallway is the bedroom of the butler as well as a storage closet for decorations and tools.
Returning to the dining room and going to the end, one turns right going back through the living room. On the other side visitors comes to a large library. Here large bookcases and paintings adorn the walls giving it a cozy feel. Next to the library a game room has the elements for poker and pool. Near it is another study area which was used as a more intimate family room. An old TV indicates that when that mode of entertainment arrived, it ended up in this room.
Across the hall one comes to the grandest room of the Filoli house, a large ball room. At one end is a huge fireplace. At the other end a stage. Large murals dominate the walls. One interesting note about this room is that President Biden recently used the room when he met with President Xi of China. Photos and memorabilia of their meeting are on display.
Visitors may not explore the upstairs so we went back outside to explore the gardens. The gardens are huge and cover a large area. Visitors enter from the clock tower courtyard which is where the gift shop is located. One signature plant in the courtyard in bloom at this time is wisteria. The purple and blue flowers drape over various parts of the walls. They were favorite spots for selfies.
Stepping through the archway from the courtyard a beautiful formal garden greets visitors with a reflecting pool in the middle. This is a well maintained garden with beautiful elements all around. On one side of the formal garden area is a garden house (pictured in the lead photo above). While we were there, people were inside having tea. These teas are available for anyone to attend for $185. I’m sure they are very elegant.
Beyond this formal pool garden is a swimming pool with a covered area at the far end. Looking towards it on the right is an area of olive trees which apparently are doing well in this climate.
To the left of the pool and up some stairs is a sports area for tennis and other sports. They have badminton set up there now. Next to it is what they call a woodland garden which has some camellias and rhododendrons in it with paths passing among the bushes.
Another portal leads to a different part of the Filoli gardens which again has camellias and some flowering trees. It also includes a small fountain. Here some of the plantings were in bordered beds. Going farther back in the gardens they become less formal. They have a large orchard area and behind it is a grassy retreat area. Next to it they planted a number of different flowers. Of course the garden has a large rose garden with the rose bushes set up in neat rows. Not many of the roses bushes were in full bloom, but I’m sure it is a beautiful spot when they are.
One of the more eye-catching displays was the peonies. They were spectacular with very large flowers. Sadly some were past their prime. Others had their blossoms hanging down so it was hard to capture them with a camera. However, a number of people took a long time admiring these beauties.
They also have a vegetable garden. That would have been obvious to use when a family lived here, but I’m not quite sure what they do with their vegetables now. They do have a cafe on site so perhaps they use some of the produce that is grown. The large artichokes are what caught my attention.
If it’s a hot day, one of the things visitors must try are the popsicles. These are no ordinary popsicles. They are made with addition of herbs. For example I had strawberry and basil while Andrea had rose and honey. She said it tasted just like a rose smells.
It’s hard to describe all the various locations in the Filoli gardens. Suffice it to say that they are beautiful and worth checking out. Spring is always a good time for flowers, but I’m sure summer and fall have beauty to offer as well.
We stopped by the cafe, which is outside the garden area, on the way back to our car. We felt the prices were high for the amount of food they were serving so we decided not to eat there.
Since we were not far from the coastal town of Half Moon Bay, Andrea thought it would be worthwhile to check it out since there was plenty of time left in our day. She wanted to walk along the cliffs.
When we arrived in town, we decided to eat at a Mexican restaurant she was familiar with. We parked near the restaurant, and after eating we walked down to the ocean. The state park at the end of the road charges to park there so we were glad we walked and avoided the charge.
Once we arrived at the park, we walked along the cliffs. There is a paved trail most of the way, but there are a number of dirt trails that are closer to the water that people have managed to carve out as they walked. The trail was not particularly busy.
From time to time we would stop. There were some places which had wild flowers in bloom. I’m not sure what they are, but they come in a variety of colors. There were also places where the cliff would cut back in towards the trail creating large cracks and ravines in the cliff. These created some nice vistas.
We could see people down below on the beach as we walked along. There were a couple of places where people could walk down to the beach, but we stayed on the cliff walk. One interesting thing we observed on the beach was this odd trail where something had created a wide path in the sand. We eventually saw a man who was walking along the beach and dragging a tire behind him which was creating this path. I’m not sure why he was doing this. Andrea thought he was training for some event.
Farther down the trail we came to some evergreen trees. Because they were near the ocean they had that windswept look to them as the wind constantly pushed the branches away from the water. In one section erosion had created a wide ravine, and the trees’ roots were exposed. Some seemed to be just barely hanging on.
We walked for about four miles in total. It was a clear, sunny day, but the ocean wind kept us cool most of the time. We could hear the crashing of the waves below us. Overall it was a good and enjoyable walk. After our walk we called it a day and returned to Andrea’s home.
It was wonderful to see the gardens that were created at the Filoli Estate. However, it’s wonderful to enjoy the waves and flowers that grow wild as well. God does a pretty good job of creating beauty, and we are grateful for it.