Fodor’s Travel, the foremost name in travel publishing, has named Kingsbrae Garden a 2008 Fodor’s Choice selection. This distinction recognizes a remarkable achievement for Kingsbrae Garden, a not-for-profit 27-acre public garden in Canada’s premier seaside resort town, St Andrews by-the-Sea, a small historic community of 1850 inhabitants.

Since 1988, Fodor’s Travel has been awarding the Fodor’s Choice distinction to the best hotels, restaurants and attractions, world-wide. Fodor’s writers experience, examine and evaluate thousands of organizations.

“From hidden-away restaurants to can't-miss museums, Fodor’s Choice selections recognize the top sights, properties, and experiences our editors and updaters have found in their travels,” says Fodor’s publisher Tim Jarrell. “These places are the best of the best, providing a remarkable experience in their price range or category.”

As a 2008 Fodor’s Choice recipient, Kingsbrae Garden receives special recognition in Fodor’s guidebooks and website as currently being among the best in its field.

Kingsbrae Garden has been the recipient of many national and regional awards in its ten years of operation. This international badge of excellence helps to validate the Garden staff’s many years of commitment to horticultural excellence, the environment, the tourism industry and local involvement with the New Brunswick and Canadian Maritime communities.

Kingsbrae Garden is so much more than a fantastic horticultural display garden. Granted, there are over 50,000 perennials, shrubs and trees on 27 magnificent acres, in many themed gardens, but the other attractions are the icing on the cake. Visitors of all ages enjoy a menagerie of alpacas, pygmy goats, peacocks and ducks, a 1/3 scale functioning Dutch windmill, a cedar maze, ‘Circle of Thyme’ labyrinth, ponds, streams, acres of virgin Acadian forest and numerous sculptures around the property.

The Children’s Fantasy Garden, with five diverse playhouses (including a scalable castle), weeping shrubs, a living fence; arbour and a grass bed to jump on is the scene for daily free children’s activities in July; August and a favourite site for all ages throughout the season.

Kingsbrae Garden’s summer season runs from May 15th to October 10th, 2009, daily from 9 to 6pm. A small admission fee is good for the whole day. The licensed Garden Café is open daily, with a gift shop and art gallery, in the original 1910 manor house. The Café and terrace overlook gorgeous gardens to the sea.

Kingsbrae's 6th annual Garden of Lights Festival of Trees runs until December 28th, with admission and silent auction of trees proceeds to the local food banks. Lights display, Cafe Gift Shop are open Wednesdays through Sundays, 5 to 9 pm (closed Dec 24-26).