This is a hidden gem in Riverdale, New York. A bit far to get there from the center of Manhattan, but it is so worth the trip for a nice, quiet relaxation. It is a 28-acre estate overlooking the Hudson River. The estate has two houses and a botanical garden, but much, much smaller than Brooklyn or other major botanical gardens. This estate used to belong to several different “notable” (aka rich) people in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was given to the City of New York in 1960, and since then, we have the privilege to walk around this beautiful estate ground. The admission is super affordable at $8/adult and $4/senior and student. Just think of not having one cup of fancy coffee or latte…with that, you can enter this magical, green space surrounded by nature.
You can get there by public transportation, or you can drive up there. They have a small parking lot ($8/parking) which can get full quickly. They do have offsite parking lot with free shuttle as well. The day we went, the staff who checked us in at the entrance was really lovely lady. I didn’t get her name, but she was welcoming, polite, kind and warm. A great way to start our visit. She gave us a map of the estate and the garden, and we were off to explore.
The first thing we visited was the Conservatory and the Flower Garden. I feel like this is the main focus of Wave Hill, since it is the first building you will see, and it is quite pretty. It is on a small side, especially if you are used to a visiting a huge botanical gardens. It is more on a cozy, homey side here. If you are doing a quick walk, you can finish in just a minute or two.
Or, you can actually take your time and look at each plant, appreciate their beauty and maybe even learn some new plant names. I like looking at cactus plants, which this Conservatory has a good number of them. I especially like their cute little flowers. They do have some very strange, interesting plants that you won’t get to see anywhere else.
And the good thing about the Wave Hill is that they have benches everywhere, even in the small Flower Garden. You can just chill out and gaze at vibrant colors.
And did I mention the view of the Hudson River? It is gorgeous! Since children under six years old can enter for free, you can bring your little ones and let them play on a grass under the Sun. Or. you can bring your favorite book or two and read in peace and quite. Or, you can just sit and Sun bath on one of their wooden garden chairs. It is such a luxury…when you live in a concrete jungle (aka New York City), this much of open space and nature is truly magnificent.
Addition to the Flower Garden, they also have Aquatic Garden, Herb Garden, Dry Garden and few other small gardens. Yes, everything is on much smaller scale, as this estate was someone’s house in the past. If you think about that, it is huge. I can’t imagine living on this much land.
My favorite part of this estate is the walking trail that goes almost all the way around the estate. If you look at the trail on their map, it looks like such a long walk, but it really isn’t. Whoever designed the map was some kind of genius… The estate looks 10 times bigger that it really is on the map. Kind of funny…
It is quite beautiful along the trail, very much in nature. And if you need a break along the way, they do have lots of little rest spot everywhere. It could be a small gazebo, a cluster of wood benches, or a single bench hidden under a massive tree branches. If you are someone (like me) who has a load of unwanted fans called mosquitoes, makes sure to bring bug spray!
As I mentioned, they have two houses on premises. One of them, Glyndor House which was built in 1927 is an art gallery. They have nature-related contemporary art in here.
You can also learn about the birds that lives in NYC Parks including Central Park. It is a rather small gallery, so it might be just a short visit in this gallery, depends on your interest.
The other house, which is the oldest part of the main house. It is called Wave Hill House and it was built in 1843. They have public programs such as Family Art Project, and I think it can be used for some private events? I am not 100% sure on that…
The back side of the house has large terrace overlooking massive green grass, and Hudson River. Most of the terrace is covered to keep it cool from the Sun.
So, why am I talking about Wave Hill? Because they have food here! They have a The Café at Wave Hill inside this main house. They offer baked goods, salads, sandwiches, etc. You can go to the ordering counter where friendly staffs will take your order. After you get your food, you can sit wherever you like.
They have two rooms by the ordering counter with a good amount of seating, one room bigger than the other. I liked these cozy and warm rooms, and good option to have on a rainy, snowy, super cold or hot days.
They don’t have table service here, but basic items such as utensils, milk, napkins, sugar, etc., can be found at the corner of the bigger room.
But on a beautiful day, most of the visitor will go out to the Kate French Terrace right through the door from the Café. Now, I am not here to tell you about their ordinary menu…but a special, seasonal, off-the-menu, almost secret item. It is their quite impressive Afternoon Tea ($35/person)! It is offered during limited seasons, and includes scones, tea sandwiches and bite-sized desserts. Minimum of two guests are required, and you have to pre-reserve and pre-pay for the tea at least 48 hours in advance. So, it is a commitment! We actually upgraded our Afternoon Tea to High Tea ($45/person) which adds sparkling wine along with strawberries and cream. Why not, right?
For the tea, we chose Earl Grey and Tropical Peony Tea. For Earl Grey, we asked for milk on the side, and our server, Charleen asked what kind of milk we wanted, and if we wanted the milk hot or cold. My goodness, the level of attentiveness and service was beyond belief! We asked for almond milk, and for it to be hot. She brought the tea with hot milk on the side. Thank you!!! Yes, fantastic start…and to note, she also asked when we wanted our champagne, and recommended us to have with the dessert tray. So, we had the tea with more savory ones first. The tea was good, I had the Tropical Peony tea which is a white tea, with great fruity flavor of pineapple, mixed with some coconut and rose petal flavors.
Then, we started to dig in to the top tier. The top tier had scones with “seasonal flavors,” dried fruits, Raspberry Preserves and Devonshire Cream. And yes, our special strawberries! On top of that, it also came with some fresh blueberries, nuts and coconut shavings as well. The dried fruits contained dates, apricot and grapes. They were sweet, chewy, and quite satisfying. Strawberries and blueberries were nice and ripe, I am not a fan of sour fruits, so these were just right.
The scones were more on the dry side, but still tasty. It had lots of pistachio in the inside, which was really nice. The preserves has real fruits in it, and tasted like homemade for sure!
After the scones, we left most of the fresh and dried fruits on the plate, and moved on the second tier. The second tier had tea sandwiches of all shapes. They had five kinds of sandwiches, two each to share, total of 10 sandwiches. Lots of food here!
The first one I tried had slices of green apple, and Brie cheese between triangle bread with raisins. It was really refreshing, naturally sweet from the apple and cheese. The apple was fresh, had the great texture, very crispy! The next one was Smoked Salmon Napoleon with dill. It had a good amount of fresh smoked salmon. The bread was slightly dry… The moist salmon helped with that a bit. It was still tasty though.
Then the round ones. The first one was ham between bread that had herbs in the bread. The bread was a bit dry again, but it was packed with flavor. The other round sandwich was Roasted Turkey, with cheese bread. Again, the bread is a bit dry on this as well, but flavorful and cheesy.
The last one, the square-shaped sandwich had grilled eggplant, onion, tomato, cucumber and cheese on some kind of Italian bread? It was refreshing with cheesy bread, and pesto went great with the ingredients. All of the sandwiches were tasty, other than the fact that the breads were on the dry side. I like moist bread… But again, we enjoyed them all, very well crafted with good quality ingredients.
Then, time for the last tier. The third tier had Chef’s Selection of Assorted Petit Fours. Charleen brought our champagne to go with our sweets. What a great idea this was, really! Champagne was a great addition to this afternoon tea in the nature, under the tree.
Desserts were great with many flavors. They were all cute and pretty, and so much more than we expected to receive. Same as the sandwiches, they had five kinds of sweet, two each to share, total of 10 sweets! It really was a great deal, this much portion for the price was a steal!
Pink one that looked like a princess dress was interesting. It had caramel in the middle that just melt in your mouth. Not the sticky kind of caramel, so it was really nice.
Each sweet was different and tasty, we really enjoyed tasting them all. The last one I had was a chocolate square, thin but filled with lots of coconut meat. Great ending to the great High Tea!
But then, a young male staff came out to see if we were ok, and he asked if we wanted more scones, sandwiches or cookies. We said sure and he went back inside. When Charleen came out and we told her what the other staff said, she was very surprised. She went back to check with the manager, and came back with a HUGE cookie. She said that they were not supposed to offer anything else (and I doubt they had any extra scones and such since it was pre-ordered for just the two of us). But since the other staff offered (by mistake), the manager told her to honor the cookie offering. So, we got a large, warm chocolate cookie on the house. Score! It was super tasty too, moist and soft, with melty chocolate…delicious!
The terrace itself is not that fancy, other than the view. They regular metal tables and chairs, nothing special. But, our table was super special, all set up with white table-cloth, plates and tea cups. The regular food ordered from The Café is served with plastic-ware and plates. So, as you can imagine, we were in the center of the attention at the terrace. And yes, everyone else around us was completely jealous! Several people came over to our table and asked us about the tea service, and how they wish if they could join us. LOL.
They have a bathroom right by The Café in the inside, but it can have a line since there is only one bathroom. If you want to avoid the line, you can go back out to the main entrance area where the information desk is located. There is a staircase going down behind the information desk.
At the bottom of the stairs, there are much bigger bathrooms.
And inside the female bathroom, there is another wooden door in the back. This is the family bathroom, even though there is no sign on the door. If you have a small toddler or a baby, this would be the perfect bathroom for you. It comes with the diaper changing station as well.
It was a wonderful high tea experience, felt like a royalty enjoying the tea, sandwiches, desserts and champagne in “our” castle terrace somewhere. Our server, Charleen was simply amazing! Sweet, welcoming and accommodating. Through out the afternoon tea, she brought hot water for tea pot refills without us asking for it! I wish if we could have Charleen at every restaurant…or every restaurant would train their servers to be as good of a server like her… She certainly elevated our fancy High Tea to the next level, thank you!
So, next time you are feeling like escaping the concrete jungle, or just want to go chill out in a beautiful green space, or have a great afternoon tea in the nature, you know where to go! Just make sure the afternoon tea is offered when you go, and pre-order it beforehand. If not, just go over and relax on one of those cute benches, have a quality time with yourself, or with the loved ones. Walk around the estate, absorb all the goodness of the nature, and look for this cute Micky Mouse cactus plant!
Wave Hill – 675 W 252nd St, Bronx, NY 10471