Things to Do in Maitland

Deep in eastern Seminole County, Three Crowns Farm's prime location next to next to Lake Proctor Wilderness Area affords mounted visitors direct access to miles of scenic trails. Riders can bone up on skills during a lesson in dressage, jumping, or reining, and then head out on the network of well-worn routes for a variety of trail rides. The morning ride sets out at 7 a.m., providing a pleasurable start to the day or cap to a night spent trying to empathize with horses by sleeping standing up. For night owls, the moonlight ride embarks at 7 p.m. and catches the sunset before returning at 8:30 p.m.. The farm recommends that riders wear protective clothing and shoes that cover the feet.

Each day, golf carts trundle over wooden bridges, their wheels thwacking against each plank as they cross the myriad waterways that dot Alaqua Country Club's 18-hole layout. Designed by golf legend Gary Player, the 6,662-yard course is sculpted through tunnels of 55-foot trees and incorporates water hazards that come into play on 16 holes. One shining example is the par 3 hole 13 with an island green that tests golfers' iron play and ability to use those same clubs to fight off feral caddies that use flagsticks as swords. Surrounded by the Lower Wekiva Preserve State Park, the course enchants golfers with palms draped in billowing spanish moss and occasional sightings of deer and wild turkeys.

Alaqua Country Club's new, adobe-accented clubhouse offers weekly dining specials served to tables draped in white linens, where guests can unwind after rounds or fold burgundy napkins into festive new club head covers.

My Gym, which currently has more than 200 international locations, began more than 20 years ago as a structured place for children to safely play, acquire new skills, and romp off a sugar buzz. All classes are organized according to age level (starting as young as 6 months) and designed to incorporate the latest physiological and psychological research. Tiny Tykes gets babies moving with help from their parents, Mighty Mites teaches toddlers self-reliance and beginning sports skills, and Champions, a class for kids aged 6–9, emphasizes the importance of using teamwork to master more complex sports skills and achieve group goals such as building a human pyramid to reach the cookie jar. My Gym's energetic instructors are experts at using music, dance, and gymnastics to build youngsters' strength and self-esteem while stimulating their giggle-plexes. The noncompetitive environment fosters creativity and hands-on activities boost children's learning retention and fun quotient.

Fashion and creative expression rule side by side at Bead Bar, where guests have completed fetching and artistic beading projects since the early 1990s. Inside the shop, a handpicked inventory of beads immediately grabs attention with its dizzying array of colors, shapes, and sizes displayed behind glass cases and hanging from floor-to-ceiling slat walls. The shop’s veteran beaders emerge from mounds of beads to share their expertise, be it during classes or in-store demonstrations of tried-and-true techniques. The bead emporium also lets visitors work on projects inside its free workspace, which is just as private, yet far more spacious than a neighbor's linen closet.

In 1917, toward the end of WWI, the greens of Winter Park Country Club’s golf course echoed with baaing and bleating. In response to the wartime meat shortage, golfer cleats had given way to hooves: the course’s links, designed by John Dunn of Scotland just 17 years earlier, became grazing pastures for sheep and goats.

This was just one of many course reinventions during its more than 100 years of history, which has seen Winter Park’s fairways expand from 9 to 27 and shrink back to 9 again. Perhaps the course's greatest claim to fame has been the legendary figures who have graced its narrow, tree-hampered fairways, including players with surnames such as Hogan, Snead, and Sarazen.

Players of all stripes, from greenhorns to green-jacket holders, must deal with difficult design and terrain, as showcased on the course’s signature fourth hole, whose dogleg left and tight out-of-bounds areas lead a troubling path to a green situated behind two large bunkers and a massive oak tree. The biggest challenge, however, may reside on the par 3 seventh hole, whose deceptively simple 165-yard length leads into a hard-to-read green with a shape-shifting flagstick.

Course at a Glance:

• Nine-hole, par 35 course

• Length of 2,470 yards

• Course rating of 31.8

• Slope rating of 102 on bermuda grass

• See hole details