Allan Brooks Nature Centre

The Allan Brooks Nature Centre sits on a grassland knoll five minutes south of downtown Vernon with a view you cannot get anywhere else in the valley: Okanagan, Kalamalka and Swan lakes all at once from a single hilltop. Named for the celebrated Okanagan bird artist, the non-profit centre has been introducing visitors to the North Okanagan's ecosystems since 1996, and it is built for hands-on discovery. Inside are interactive displays of local plants and animals, live snakes, turtles and spiders, an observation bee hive and fur-and-feather touch tables; outside, walking paths loop through the native grassland past bluebird nest boxes, the resident marmots of "Marmot City", an analemmatic sundial and a pond where kids can net-dip for aquatic life. Guided tours can be booked for groups, and the centre runs summer camps, nature talks and workshops through the season, along with the ticketed Raptors flight demonstrations each June that bring hawks, owls, eagles and vultures to the Grassland Theatre. The centre is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., from April through October, admission is by donation, and there is free parking on site. It is also the local authority on birding routes through the Commonage grasslands to the south, so ask the staff before you go exploring.