Looking for a little enchantment?
Visitors to The Enchanted Forest can climb to the top of B.C.'s tallest and grandest treehouse. —Photo courtesy of the Enchanted Forest
Doris and Ernest Needham started The Enchanted Forest as a life-long dream and retirement project during the 1950s. Opened to the public in the 1960s and seen by millions, the old world fairlyland now has more than 350 handmade figurines, dungeons, dragons and castles. Rocky and Juliet Ehlers and their family have continued with the dream since 1989 and recently were honoured as one of the Top 10 Business People of the Year in Kootenay Business Magazine. As Rocky says, “I thoroughly love selling happiness. It’s a great product to sell and I love our customers. People leave happier than when they came in the door.” People can walk up a spiral staircase inside a natural huge cedar snag that rises to look down on Winnie the Pooh or walk into a giant cedar stump house and see the Three Bears—all handcrafted with incredible details by original artists. Visitors can climb British Columbia’s tallest and grandest treehouse, rising 50 feet into the forest canopy. People can walk two kilometres on nature paths with a naturalist exhibition displaying a variety of plants, herbs and roots. Or walk the new one-kilometre boardwalk which leads you through a bulrush canopy to a self-guided boat tour of wetlands and beaver ponds. The Enchanted Forest is located midway between Revelstoke and Sicamous, British Columbia, on the Trans Canada Highway with ample pull-through parking and is open seven days a week from mid-May to October from 8 a.m. until a half hour before dusk. You can enjoy a picnic lunch and walk hand-in-hand through a lush forest with 800-year-old cedars and shop in their unique gift shop. Pets are welcome and umbrellas are even available on rainy days. The Enchanted Forest is wheelchair accessible and fun and educational for the whole family!
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