Brochures provide information on trails and points of interest and offer maps, so that visitors can find their way around a course by themselves if they wish. The arboretum staff also helps to set up guided tours and puts groups in touch with some of the scientists who are studying wildlife and plants at the Blandy Experimental Farm. Blandy Experimental Farm's most obvious feature is its loveliness and tranquillity. The arboretum grounds are a perfect place to walk, to picnic, to watch nature and to enjoy the outdoors without having to scramble through underbrush. The Blue Ridge Mountains provide a backdrop for the gently rolling fields and well-tended groves of trees, which surround a handsome brick and frame building housing the Arboretum's gift shop, administrative offices and dormitories for visiting scientists.
Shady lanes merge into meadows covered with wildflowers.
Boxwoods, evergreens and groves of deciduous trees dot the landscape. A shelf of rock juts out into a pond and small marsh, allowing visitors to step right up to the edge of the water and watch turtles sunning themselves on water lilies or orioles nesting in the reeds. Wooden benches sit strategically in the shade of oak and chestnut trees for visitors who want to rest, munch on a sandwich and enjoy the view. A cluster of picnic tables beckons to hungry families who have spent the morning exploring the arboretum grounds, but visitors can choose their own sites for picnicking, said Turner. Families with small children often spread blankets on the meadow above the pond where there is plenty of room to run and parents can watch them without diving into the bushes.