Sunridge Woods is situated on County Road 54 just west of the junction with CR545, Lake Wilson Road, and just 2 miles east of junction 58 on the I4. Sunridge Woods is ideally positioned to get all around Florida easily.

It is an exclusive and peaceful community of private homes set within a conservation area with attractive Wetlands to the front of the development and many homes backing onto pastureland.

There is a lake with stunning views and an abundance of wildlife at all times throughout the year, you may be lucky to spot Giant Gopher Tortoises, Vultures, American Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, Red Cardinals to name just a few. Should you see any of the wildlife, please do not feed or attempt to feed them as this is not only potentially dangerous to you as some of them have sharp beaks, it is also dangerous to the wildlife themselves as they then eat food that is not natural to them and also they can become ‘used to humans’ and lose thier fear of them.

Sunridge Woods has an active Home Owners Association, which ensures that the community is maintained to a high standard.

Although a very peaceful community, Sunridge Woods is less than 10 minutes away from Highway 192 with its abundance of shops and restaurants that cater for a wide variety of tastes.

Walt Disney World is less than 15 minutes away with Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and SeaWorld only 10 minutes further away.

Sunridge Woods is conveniently situated just a few minutes drive from the Champions Gate complex, where you can enjoy a round or two of golf on the world renowned courses, or you can pick up all your groceries at the large Publix supermarket. Also situated at Champions Gate is a Bank, Subways and a Chinese take-away.

From the I4 you can easily drive to both the East and West Coasts of Florida, visiting places of interest from the Kennedy Space Centre and Daytona to St Pete’s and Sarasota.

Further afield are the wonderful old towns of St Augustine’s with it very picturesque Spanish Quarter and quaint Mout Dora with it’s many antique shops and wonderful sunset views over the lake.

Sunridge Woods is in an ideal position to make the most of a great Floridian holiday.

This is Florida’s hidden gem. If you want a couple of hours relaxation in a perfectly tranquil and calm place this is it – only don’t tell the tourists!!

Just South of Haines City, you need to follow the signs for Lake Wales and the Bok Tower, set amidst orange groves, it is incredibly easy to find and you will see the tower rising above the trees as you are driving along.

The Historic Bok Sanctuary was donated to the American people by a Dutch immigrant, Edward W Bok. Mr Bok used to holiday on Iron Mountain in Florida and loved watching the sunsets. He purchased the mountain and commissioned a famous American landscape architect to plan and build the Sanctuary so that its beauty could be preserved.

Later a CarillionTower was added to the gardens, and Edward W Bok is buried on the North side of the tower.

We visited mid week and at first glance, in the information center, it looked fairly busy with a school party and quite a few elderly people. After watching a short introduction video you are left to wander freely around the gardens. It is only then that you realise that no matter how busy it looks, you rarely see other people about.

The gardens are pretty large and the flowers really unusual, but the highlight is seeing the 205 foot Carillion Tower.The colours of the stonework and marble have to be seen, I have never seen pinks, blues, purples, greys etc in natural stone like they are here, and the carving and mosaics around the windows are magnificent.

The CarillionTower houses a 60 bell carillion and twice a day you can sit and listen to half hour recitals of this instrument, but be aware, the peaceful environment and pleasant sounds can start to make you feel rather drowsy!

There are several different walkways around the garden, and one leads you to the ‘Window By The Pond’, a wooden hut built facing a lake where you can see all sorts of wildlife in it’s natural environment. When we visited there were several types of bird, squirrels a plenty and a rather elegant blue heron perched right in the centre.

The views from the top of the mountain are quite breathtaking, Iron Mountain is the highest excavated piece of land in Florida, and you can see for miles around, in fact 200 million years ago, you would have been looking over the sea.

We are not great fans of gardens, but this one has been put on our list of ‘must see and do again’. The pathways are mainly bark chippings and if you are unable to walk the short hill to the Carillion Tower, don’t worry, an electric car is available to take you to the top and back down again if you don’t wish to or are unable to make the walk. I cannot recommend the Historic Bok Tower and gardens enough, it has to be one of our favourite places in all Florida, let’s hope it doesn’t change.

Once you are finished at the gardens, why not take the very short drive across to ‘Spook Hill’. There is no charge for this, and I do not wish to spoil the fun, there is an information board, read this and follow the instructions……..what do you think is happening!?