Who doesn’t love a beautiful garden? But when people talk about spectacular, must-see gardens, they’ll tell you all about the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou or about how many waterlilies they counted in Monet’s garden near Paris or the incredible flower display in the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, or some other equally spectacular garden located somewhere overseas, far away from Australia.
But Australia has some spectacular gardens too. Unfortunately, most are not as well known as those blooming in far distant lands. For example, last year, friends told us about Tenterfield’s Glenrock Gardens which had just re-opened to the public. We certainly had never heard of it but thought it would make for a great little tripette. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and thought the designer’s vision to meld a cool climate European garden tradition with iconic Australian flora was inspired and well suited to the New England environment.
Following that trip, my sister Jenny told me about Mayfield Gardens,a cool climate garden that had been established by the Hawkins family near Oberon in the Central West of New South Wales. As we heading south just after Easter, we thought we would visit the garden during their Autumn festival and soak up some wonderful autumn colour, something that we here in sub tropical Byron Bay lack.
Although the 15 hectare Mayfield Garden is open 363 days a year, it is only during the four seasonal festivals that the Hawkins 50 hectare private garden is open to the public as well.
It was a cool, misty morning when we left the Blue Mountains. Not sure which road to take, we used Google Maps to guide us and were not disappointed. Google took us to Lithgow where we turned onto Magpie Hollows Road. What a great name for an Australian country road! And it was so pretty as we meandered up hill and around dale through a lovely autumn landscape. Even through we were not on a main road, we didn’t encounter black spots and were on time for our rendezvous with Jenny.
Admission to the gardens is not free and prices can vary so check out their website for updates. Although you are encouraged to purchase tickets online, we bought ours at the gardens. There wasn’t a big queue even though there were a lot of visitors, judging by the numbers of cars in the carpark. Over cappuccinos in the delightful cafe, we perused maps of the garden. As it was still part of the Autumn Festival, we could explore two gardens. The watergarden that is Mayfield Garden and the much bigger Hawkins family garden which adjoins Mayfield Garden. The two gardens combined cover a very large area and we didn’t think we’d be able to explore all of it in one day, so a little planning was in order. A visit to the Obelisk was first on our agenda.
A curving path framed by shrubs bursting with shades of orange and red led us forward to the water garden. As we strolled along, we wondered what might be behind the towering green hedge on our right?
The path led us through a sandstone tunnel
and there it was, the Obelisk, encircled by water and the perfect semi-circular hedge. The work involved in keeping that hedge perfectly clipped is mind boggling! Even in cloudy conditions it was really lovely, the symmetry soothing to the soul.
We had entered the realm of the water garden. As we gazed and clicked away at the Obelisk, the sound of cascading water was all around us. We turned and there was a beautiful cascade. I couldn’t help but admire how perfectly your eye is led up through the cascade to the garden and ponds beyond.
But the garden doesn’t want to reveal its secrets all at once. The path leads you out to the fringes of the garden, then back to the ponds again.
Where the explosion of colour is just wonderful. The balance of reds, yellows and oranges is enhanced by the evergreen foliage which surrounds them.
The white, weeping branches of trees and shrubs that had already dropped their leaves were lovely as well.
And then there’s the beautiful Chinese bridge. At least I thought it looked to be Chinese or Japanese inspired. Obviously, there are two sides to a pond, so two sides of the garden to explore.
This isn’t a garden which has a statue or sculpture around every bend. But there are several very special installations in the garden. This copper tree is one of them. I suspect it will look even more spectacular in Spring.
The Stone Bridge is the boundary between the Mayfield Water garden and the Hawkins’ Family Private Garden. There are wonderful views in all directions from the bridge.And how cool are the reflections?
As you gaze into the expanse of the family garden,the scale of the garden really begins to make an impact.
Leaving the bridge, you enter the realm of the Hawkins private garden through a grotto.
It’s cool, dark and magical.
And parts of the grotto reminded me of many of the Chinese and Japanese gardens I have visited on my travels. Blends beautifully into the Australian landscape don’t you think?
As you exit the grotto, what lies before you, but a Chinese pavilion, complete with its own personal island.
Of course, we had to visit.
We followed the lake around to the expansive lawns which led up to the main residence.
This section of the garden appealed to all of us. So many amazing colours and textures.The only downside was that there was so much to see and not enough time to just ‘be’ in the garden.As you approach the homestead, the garden takes on a more formal Italianate feel, with avenues of cyresses and perfect hedging. There is a lovely croquet lawn of course and visitors are welcome to play.
When we reached the homestead, we were delighted to see that it didn’t dominate the landscape but rather nestled into it. And how beautiful is that shrubbery at the front!By this stage of the morning, one of my other sisters, Maryanne and her husband, Kim had joined us together with their lovely dog. Yes, the gardens are pet friendly, on leash of course.One benefit of having your dog accompany you, is that suddenly, so many people want to stop to say ‘hi’, enhancing that sometimes elusive sense of connection.
The views from the homestead are incredible. Imagine waking up to this every morning!
Looking across the lawn to the edge of the lake is another of the incredible sculptural pieces that dot the gardens.
One of the things, Jenny and I had been looking forward to was the Maze. It is 1.4 km long and you can definitely get lost in it. However, Jenny and I never give up, and without help, made it safely to the centre and out to civilisation. This was a lot of fun.
On the other side of homestead from the maze, is the water cascade complete with temple/folly. This must look particularly lovely at night.
We also explored the glasshouse, the walled kitchen garden and the rose arbour.
However, we couldn’t see everything. It was quite cool, so we didn’t go Row boating on the Lake, something that would be a highlight in Summer I think. Nor did we explore the new Herbaceous Border or the Flying Fox. Alas we couldn’t visit the valley of the five ponds, the amphitheatre or the stumpery. In Spring, the Camellia Walk would be a must see but this time we didn’t linger.
We had intended to have lunch at the cafe but didn’t realise that we had to book in advance. This would have been the icing on the cake as the cafe setting is lovely and on the day we visited, the cafe even had a fire and live music. We made do with a barbecue sandwich but will remember next time to book or bring a picnic.
All in all, we all had a wonderful time at Mayfield and can’t wait to visit again especially during festival time.
Byron Dreamer 