A short walk from Government Street in downtown Victoria, this 200 acre park is beautifully landscaped and manicured with bridges, lakes and ponds, and an alpine and rock garden. It is home to numerous species of ducks, birds and wildlife.

The park is a family affair in more than one way: a pair of Bald Eagles nests in one of the huge trees and regularly cause havoc for the large family of Great Blue Herons that also nest in a copse of Douglas-fir trees at the west end of the park. Wouldn’t it be memorable to take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the park?

If you enjoy golf, go to the putting green for awhile. You’ll also find sports fields and playgrounds, a band shell, and what was once the world's tallest totem pole in the world, a 38.9 meter (128 foot) pole raised in 1956. The quiet of the park is sometimes interrupted by the call of the peacocks roam freely through the park and there is a petting farm for your children to enjoy where you’ll meet Ethel the pot-bellied pig; Peanut Butter, a miniature Pinto and a foal named Jelly; and a donkey named Rosie.

50 or more baby goats are fun to interact with, as children can pet them or brush them with brushes provided. The farm is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, weather permitting. Beacon Hill Park was named for the two beacons on Mount Beacon.

The western most beacon had a triangle (blue) and the other a square (green). If the sailor could see the square through the triangle, he was on Brotchie Ledge - which meant trouble.