Ooty has long been thronged by nature lovers and there is no doubt that its natural beauty is incomparable to any other hill station in the region. However Ooty also has a lot to offer to history aficionados in terms of its rich colonial past, but in tour packages these historic places are given a second preference, so one has to tour a lot on his own to visit them.
The most striking of all the colonial era places in Ooty that I found was the Government Botanical Gardens (a.k.a. Ooty botanical gardens). Laid out in 1847 the 22-acre Botanical Garden is lush, green, and well-maintained. These gardens house around a 1000 species of both exotic and indigenous plants, shrubs, ferns, trees, herbal and bonsai plants. It also houses what is claimed to be a 20 million year old fossilized tree. The Gardens consist of several lawns with flowering plants, ponds with lilies, beds of flowers and ferns laid out in an Italian style and a variety of medicinal plants as well.
The gardens are laid out on sloping hills and the entrance is at the bottom of the hill so you have to climb your way through to tour the ascending gardens. During your ascent you will also come across numerous nurseries placed in a series of terraces and glass-houses constructed for the introduction and breeding of exotic plants.