3
Nov
Hurunui Garden Festival – Day 1 a miracle of sorts
At this time of year it is difficult to decide which of the garden festivals to visit. The last couple of years we have been to the Taranaki Festivals – so many gardens you could go 10 years in a row without seeing the same garden twice. Like painting the Harbour Bridge. Once you are finished it is time to start all over again to see what has grown or changed since the last time.
This year, we decided to tour the Hurunui Garden Festival (HGF) for the 1st time and then travel back up to Blenheim for the Marlborough Garden Show. We have been to Marlborough a couple of times over the years. It does not disappoint – the gardens are magnificent. Touring in a bus takes away the stress of finding a parking space for HQ (our motorhome) on what is often skinny twisty roads. We both get to sit back and enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately with easing of lockdowns not coming soon enough, the organisers decided to pull the pin. We felt for the garden owners who would have been working so hard to have their gardens looking perfect for the show.
Chas and Jean were to tour with us this year, flying in to Christchurch and picking up a Maui “slider” (campervan with a sliding door for those unfamiliar with the parlance). These plans were made before Delta reared its ugly head. So in the end we left Chas and Jean locked down in Cambridge and went to Hurunui on our own. We’ll have to try again next year.
This is only the 4th year that the festival has been held, organised by a dynamic team of 6 women and Gary Mitchell as Chair. There are 22 locations to visit – private gardens, historic homes and artists from Hanmer Springs in the North to Amberley in the South. This is a very professionally organised festival with the brochure, website, signage and other communication well organised and thought out. The gardens we visited were of a consistently high standard and the hosts welcoming and generous with their time, sharing their knowledge. The difficult part was deciding which locations to visit!
Day 1
We started in Cheviot, travelling 10 minutes out of town to Cathedral Cliffs in Gore Bay. What a stunning location. Due to the misty weather we missed out on the spectacular clifftop views but enjoyed the multitude of rhododendrons, perennial beds, flowering prunus and wonderful bird song. A great start to our Festival tour.
On to Ribbonwood Country House, 20 minutes inland. Another spectacular setting with views over the Waiau Valley towards Mt Parnassus and the Seaward Kaikouras. The owners, Robert and Gary (Chair of HGF) were most welcoming, their professional hospitality experience shining through. Ribbonwood operates as a boutique luxury lodge. They have a large vegetable and picking garden to support the lodge as well as other gardens for the pleasure of guests. Extensive native plantings protect the gardens from the fierce winds. This would be a lovely location to spend a weekend and Robert and Gary would be consummate hosts. Ribbonwood Country House website
Our next pick of gardens was Loch Leven. It has been awarded 5 stars by the NZ Gardens Trust, meaning that it is a “Garden of National Significance”. The Trust’s star system is a reliable benchmark of the standard and certainly didn’t disappoint. Loch Leven is a 3 acre garden on a small farm in the Amuri Basin. It is park like with large sweeping lawns that would turn many golf clubs green with envy. Large borders are studded with trees and beautifully underplanted with an interesting selection of plants. Rock walls and clipped hedges provide structure. A summerhouse, large locally sourced boulders and garden art provide interesting focal points. The garden was as it was described in the HGF brochure – expansive and tranquil.
This garden is the result of thirty years of hard work by the owners Doreen and Mike. As if a three acre garden isn’t enough to keep you busy, they also propagate plants that they sell through their small nursery or online Loch Leven Nursery website
It was the worst kind of hell perusing the nursery with its quality interesting plants at very reasonable prices knowing that unless HQ had morphed into the Tardis I would have to resist. I could only resist for so long. I placed an online order this afternoon. Within a couple of hours Doreen was on the phone enquiring whether I had used the right address as it was not my home address. What service and attention to detail! Watch out Chas and Jean – plants coming your way. A small consolation prize for missing out on the HGF.
The day was slipping away and we were looking forward to opening a bottle of red and reviewing the events of the day. “Just one more” I pleaded. “It’s just down the road” I whined. Happy wife, happy life and we were off to Hemingford in Culverden. Another lovely country garden owned by Artist Lissa and husband Al – large trees, peonies, irises, roses mostly still in bud and other herbaceous perennials. The archway walk, recycled from a Sumner garden and originally a gift made in the Littleton shipyards, was bordered by the largest lilac bushes I have ever seen, complementing the clematis and roses growing over the structure. It was easy to see where Lissa gets her inspiration for her artwork on display in her studio. We loved Lissa’s work and decided to make one our own. I’m sure it will remind us of their beautiful garden. Lissa Holland Artist website
It was time to head to that night’s resting place. A feature of the HGF is that some of the gardens allow motorhomes to stay free overnight. They welcome a donation to their Student Scholarship fund which we were only too happy to make. What a privilege staying in such beautiful settings. Our choice for the 1st night of the Festival was Coldstream. It was after 5pm as we drove up the long driveway leading to the garden The hosts Vicki and Andrew couldn’t have been more welcoming after what I’m sure has been a hectic few months and a busy 1st day of the Festival. Vicki invited us to wander the garden at our own pace, warning that rain could be on the way. In fact the next morning there was a weather warning in place. High wind, thunderstorms and hail were predicted. We were pleased we had taken Vicki up on her kind offer of an after-hours’ viewing.
Coldstream, another 5 star garden of National Significance, is a one hectare garden that wraps around the farmhouse. The stream that flows through the garden creates a large pond (or is it a lake). A huge willow grows at its edge, the tips of its branches gracefully dipping into the clear water. Mature oaks and the biggest silver birches we have ever seen are underplanted with camellias, rhododendrons and roses. Vicki told us they had had to remove 14 of the birches. It was difficult to see where they had been removed from and they certainly weren’t missed. One had been blown over by a high wind and had been propped back up and stropped into place, none the worse for its experience. Some of the garden beds were more formal, edged with buxus and again an impressive emerald green carpet of lawn. Like many of the gardens that day there were impressive swathes of irises and aquilegia. Coldstream Facebook page
All of these wonderful gardens and only the 1st day. We staggered back to the van with weary legs but happy hearts. After weeks of uncertainty whether or not Covid would rob us of another pleasure and having to leave our travel buddies behind, our day felt like a miracle. We slept the night peacefully with only one other motorhome for company. Gardens are so good for the soul. It was a very auspicious start.