From a garden thickly wooded with pine trees just like a painting in a gallery and an elegant European-style building to a gazebo located by a small valley and a variety of adorable items that make you take out your camera,

I was in awe of this “secret garden” appearing before me as I entered. The reactions from people who visit this place are not much different – “How beautiful!” or “How pretty!”

The Greem is a mini botanical garden, home of 200 to 300 species of flowers and trees that you can see any time of the year from 100,000 royal azaleas in spring and grass and valley filled with green scent in summer to colorful maple leaves in autumn and a gorgeous scene of snow gently fallen on ground winter.

The Greem was originally built by the owner, Mr. Yoon Seok-young, as a country house for his later years. He cultivated a garden by planting trees and flowers by himself and often invited his acquaintances for a meal together. As more of his friends continued to state their opinions on how sad it is for the place to be open only for a selected few, an increasing number of inquiries were received about possibility of filming TV shows at the place, and this was when Mr. Yoon decided to open his private to the public. It started with just a single building but, since then, Watercolor building constituted of a café and an imported lifestyle goods store, Landscape building popularly used as a photo spot, and Sketch building that houses Healing Zone Café have been established.

The Greem’s design is entirely from Mr. Yoon’s mind. Without referring to other places or literature, he independently conceives ideas and sketches them onto the garden. Paths of movement are set up for both the safety of visitors and convenience in management, which has led the arrangement of the buildings, hills, ponds, etc. to change more than 3 times.

Boasting over 60 TV show appearances and officially marked on the map of Gyeonggi Tourism Organization as one of the five tourist attractions in Yangpyeong, The Greem is a beloved spot for many. How the place always maintains prime conditions despite a countless number of visitors coming and going every day is because of Mr. Yoon’s diligence in performing water cleaning of the entire place on his own without missing a day. Such efforts also stem from his philosophy that customers who visit the place must be greeted by a clean appearance. As a token of thanksgiving to the visitors, he began to offer a cup of a complementary drink as included in the admission and, especially for customers who visit in wintertime, a glass greenhouse opened in early May to provide a greater variety of things to see and enjoy.

Whereas an arboretum is a place where you study and preserve flowers and trees, a botanical garden is where you see, hear and feel the flowers and trees, according to Mr. Yoon. A space for you to comfortably see, enjoy, and experience, The Greem aims to be a botanical garden that offers healing and viewing of the nature and trees in the outskirts of Seoul.

Written and photos by Kim Sun-joo

TIP.

It sells high-quality wine of brands such as Lotte, Shinsegae and Keumyang at the lowest prices in the country. In fact, many people visit The Greem to purchase wine.

Website http://www.thegreem.com/

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