Kyushu 2023 - Yufuin Floral Village

 

After filling our stomach with snacks, we went in search for our next destination, the Yufuin Floral Village. I had high hopes for this attraction, plus the entrance was free! And it looked really nice on the internet. We found it, but I was quite disappointed with the place. It was designed to look like Cotswolds in England, but it didn't feel anything like it! (I would know since I've visited Cotswolds before :P  )

The whole place was filled with small village looking houses like the above, but they were pretty much packed together along the narrow alley. Add that with the visitors there, it was pretty crowded.

Every single village house was actually just a shop. So basically the whole village was just a giant shopping area, which didn't quite catch my fancy! I would rather they were cafes and bookshops, but no, everyone was selling merchandises to cater to tourist. So you have a Totoro shop above.

A Kiki's Bakery shop that doesn't sell any baked goods! I think if they have sold some baked goods here, then I might be less forgiving of this whole place. But no, they were selling more merchandises.

Shops selling Peter Rabbit items above.

A flower fountain area with Heidi character. At this point, I have forgotten about Heidi in my life, and this suddenly reminded me of this character, which was interesting, lol. For some reason, Japanese seems to like Heidi. I secretly suspect they like everything European.....

Moomin shop. I love Moomin, but usually everything is too expensive for me.

Here is a photo showing how nearby the shops are to each other. Not a pleasant walk at all.

Here's me with a souvenir shot.

And me in a super narrow alley. Nope, didn't like this place at all. Love the real Cotswolds though. Please go visit the real thing! But all in all, it was an interesting place to visit if it was less crowded, or if you just want to feel like you are in a really small English village.....