To Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills

Rob and I struggled to remember a lot about our first visit to Hahndorf in the beautiful Adelaide Hills - about 45 years ago. It was January and Adelaide was in the middle of a torrid hot spell and we were camping - so different to this visit!

After driving up from Langhorne Creek this morning we took a guided tour of the beautiful house and studio of Hahndorf's most famous citizen, the artist Sir Hans Heyson (and his remarkable daughter Nora Heyson). The house has changed very little since the 1920s, with much of the family's furnishings in place just as they were when the family lived there. There are also over 200 original works of Heyson's (and others) hanging on the walls of this beautiful old home.

We entered Nora Heyson's small sunny studio first, probably my favourite space in the whole complex. ..... This was where Nora's mother would do her family sewing - in amongst the art books and easels (and paint no doubt!).

I wish this was my studio!

No photos were allowed inside the main house - which still retains a powerful presence of this richly artistic (and entrepreneurial) family.

This was Sitr Hans Heyson's main studio - a large purpose built stone building looking out over a very Heyson style Australian bush landscape.

We found the Shady Pool area below Heyson's studio. Its intense green pond vegetation and the massive white trunked eucalypts were among Heyson's favourite subjects. 

I'm sure Heyson would have loved to paint Harrison Redford at the "Shady Pool".

The gardens around the family home were looking at their Spring time best today.

Afterwards we enjoyed a late-ish lunch at Hahndorf's Haus Restaurant. Rob was super happy to enjoy a meal and a beer, drawing on this town's strong German heritage. Our friends Jenni and Wayne returned to Murrumbateman this morning, but we have a few more days of adventures ahead with Judy and Jurgen. We also have lovely new b & b accommodation on Flaxley Road in Mount Barker which is in the Adelaide Hills too - a great base for the final days of this road trip.