Sinkholes

Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface can naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground.

Sinkholes are dramatic because the land stays intact until the underground spaces just get too big - then a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur

UMPHERSTON CAVE

Once a cave formed through dissolution of the limestone. This sinkhole was created when the top of the chamber collapsed downwards. taking the topsoil to the floor of the cave, thus forming the perfect environment for a sunken garden


Originally beautified by James Umpherston around 1886, I saw it in 1988, landscaped with terraced gardens and floodlit at night.

It is an impressive garden with palm trees reaching to the sky and plants hanging over the edges
From dusk each evening it comes alive with possums as they venture into the floodlit gardens to feed