Bathurst Open Gardens

Last weekend was the annual open gardens and like every year we went to have a look with my friend Lisa.  Always a lovely day to catch up.

We opted to go on Sunday, as the weather was forecast to be better than Saturday and it was a very good decision.  We had the perfect spring day and could start the day with the O’Connell Artisan Markets.  Win, win.

The markets are held in the grounds of the Anglican Church.  The old Rectory is now a beautiful shop featuring local produce and gorgeous homewares, both new and vintage.  This was the first time we have had a chance to visit and will keep it in mind for future.

From there we visited a lovely country garden, just out of O’Connell, which features a flower garden.  It was the pick of the gardens we visited.  The position is well off the road with sweeping views of the surrounding area.

Just the spot for an outside bath, heated by a wood fire.

From there it was on to another lovely garden at O’Connell, just beside the river.  The house dates back to the mid 1800s.  We have visited this garden previously.

The next one was open for the first time this year.  It is another historic garden.  Part of the house dates back to the 1830s, with an 1880s addition.  It is now used as a guest house and had recent additions out the back that work well. The above photo shows the 1880s section.

The circular drive is a wonderful entrance, featuring an impressive sculpture in the centre. The section of the house on the right is the earlier section.

At the rear of the house there is a walled garden.  In the centre there is a Lorraine Lee rose that dates back to the 1830s.  The base is huge.

By then it was time for lunch, before visiting some town gardens.  Let’s have a quick look, so I don’t bore you.

At the last garden we visited there was a lovely, healthy blue tongue lizard sunning itself in amongst the plants.

What we did notice this year was the lack of bees.   The varroa mite is definitely having an effect. We were delighted to see quite a few on one lavender hedge.

As always, there were a wide variety of styles and sizes.  We have to thank all the owners for taking the trouble to have their gardens prepared for visitors.  It would be a huge task.