Mayfield Garden

We spent most of today at the beautiful Mayfield Garden - about 3 hours drive north of Canberra, near Oberon (on the Western fringe of the greater Blue Mountains). So we could spend as much time as possible at the gardens we drove up to the region yesterday and stayed overnight at a B & B in nearby Wisemans Creek.

We met our friends Judy and Jurgen for lunch along the way, at a pretty village, only an hour and a half from Canberra: Taralga. I should say we met our two friends AND their two precious puppies, Charlie and Poppy, who were there for the ride (and lunch) too!! 

So close to Canberra, and we can't ever remember being this way before! Taralga is very picturesque and quite historic too ....

We eventually made our way to Glenburn House at Wisemans Creek - our B & B for the night. Glenburn House started life in 1883 as a school. It's had a number of very sympathetic additions in recent years, and is now a really comfortable place to stay, in this quiet rural area.

We were greeted with afternoon tea (complete with handmade treats) in this very pretty spot in the back garden. The two white buildings used to be the schoolchildren's toilets back in the day. Now they've been converted into a very stylish outdoor kitchen area.

There were a lot of horses around the adjoining properties, so knowing Abi would be interested we made friends and took some pictures.

We sat in the back garden and watched the sun go down in this idyllic setting.....

It was hard to get moving early this morning. Jennifer's beautiful home cooked breakfast was not to be rushed...... but we did eventually make our way to Mayfield Garden - looking absolutely stunning (and popular with the crowds gathering) in the clear Autumn morning light. We met our friends Megan and Mark there - they'd booked in overnight for the "glamping" experience.

The current owners (the Hawkins family) bought the property in 1984, originally as a sheep farm - and over the last 35 years or so have been gradually transforming it into a showcase garden. The public area of the garden, together with the Hawkins family garden cover more than 75 hectares (185 acres). Sixteen days each season the family garden is opened to the public too. We were lucky that our visit today coincided with one of those 16 day periods: the Autumn Festival.

A stunning feature of Mayfield are the extensive water gardens ...........

(Thank you Mark for this nice pic of us)

The gardens have been inspired by the Hawkins family visits to the great gardens of Europe and Asia. In different parts of the garden we were reminded of gardens we've seen ourselves in Japan, China, England, and, of course a certain garden in Giverny.........

Another pic from Mark..........

We're sure we've seen a bridge like this (but MUCH older) near Yangshou in China..............

And now to Italy for the Grotto feature.........

And the Chinese pagoda.......

At this point we were walking around the private family gardens ........ Croquet anyone??

The Hawkins family front lawn .........

The cascading temple .......... (but no water cascading today) ...

A corner of the Hawkins family house (not their main house - this is just their "country weekender").

Leading to the glass house (full of large potted citrus and Cymbidium orchids!!)

Colourful dahlias (now back in fashion I hear!)...........

We loved the "Pear Walk" ............

And the chook runs are referred to as the "Chook Hilton" (with good reason) .....

Charlie, the Jack Russel, thought this was the most interesting aspect of Mayfield!

There were orchards, vegie gardens, wisteria arbors, an extensive maze, the largest herbaceous border garden in Australia under construction - all just amazing ........ and this beautiful example of a formal French style Parterre garden...... (Apparently the surrounding paddocks are planted with Canola - which provide a stunning backdrop of sunshine saturated yellow in the right season!)

Our friend Mark braved the Maze - and recorded this picture to prove he made his way to the Lookout Tower.....

The Valley of the Five Ponds....

Megan and Mark walking down the allee of London Plane Trees towards the obelisk, at the end of our walk around the garden .......

...from the Sandstone Gallery ........

back to the area set up for "glamping". The wind had turned quite fierce and cold by now and we were ready to find a sunny sheltered spot for our picnic lunch...

Not a bad set up for a fairly impromptu picnic under very windy conditions!

Our friends had been to Mayfield once before, in Spring, and we were lucky to be led around by them to find all the "best spots" without all the laborious map reading you'd need to do as a first time visitor.

Mayfield is a relatively young garden by world standards - and an extraordinary undertaking by a private (albeit wealthy) family! We can see how enjoyable it would be to do return visits as the seasons change and the plantings mature.....

And to conclude: Our gorgeous girl spent a quiet afternoon with us during the week (school holidays) enjoying a spot of painting. She decided to tackle "sunflowers" and spent ages mixing just the right colours and getting the textures right. We both enjoyed a long chat about Vincent Van Gogh and related matters while she worked - I was amazed at her interest and the maturity of her painting. Clever girl!!