I recently wandered around a private garden that was opened to the public by the owner. It's only open one weekend a year and, sadly, this particular opening was the last as the owner is of advancing years and doesn't have the ability to maintain the garden as she needs to which is quite sad I think. That said, I was there on Sunday and wandered around the property freely enjoying the flowers and the beautiful spring day itself.
It was a decent drive from home, over a hundred kilometres north, although I'd planned to visit a couple of other places up that way to make the drive worth it and ended up doing just over three hundred kilometres for the day; a short drive by Australian standards I guess. There was a picnic lunch and some awesome tunes playing in the vehicle as I drove; an excellent day all round. I have a lot of photos, over two hundred in all, but wanted to share some initial shots just from the private garden itself in this post.
All of these shots were taken with my mobile phone's camera and I think they came out ok...however they could never demonstrate how nice this garden was, only being there could do that.
The house and garden is surrounded by rolling hills, all used for crop farming, and the property is in the middle of nowhere well away from cities and towns; those hills and fields are covered in wheat, vibrant green at this time of year, and the rich green and gold of canola (rape seed) fields which all contrasted strikingly against the vibrant blue of the sky. I'll do a post about that later on sometime. It was very quiet, birds and the sound of the slight breeze in the trees mostly and the click of my phone camera's shutter button of course.
Do you like drives in the countryside, picnics and spending time with nature? When was the last time you took a drive with no real destination in mind, just the open road ahead? Have you ever visited a private garden opened to the public? Feel free to comment if you'd like, on those things or anything at all really, I'd like to hear from you and will respond.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[All original and AI free]
Every image in this post is my own.
Samsung S22 Ultra was used to capture these images and none of them are for your use.
I don't think I've ever visited a private garden that was opened to the public, just private gardens that were pretty nice XD
This one is so pretty O_O and sounds like you need to move out to the middle of nowhere.
It's been a very long time since we went for a drive for the sake of going for a drive. These days there are way too many things I either have to do or prefer to be doing.
though in fairness to me going for a drive was not really my favourite thing to do anyway
It's a thing throughout the country really, I've seen many, also in the UK. I guess it's nice to see gardens one may not usually see, and I've never come across a bad one.
I love going for drives, the adventure, exploration of unknown places and the excitement of unknown destinations. These are often combined with picnics or the discovery of nice places to eat and have coffee...and they're away from cities. So, I guess I prioritise the time to do it. Yuo're clearly way busier than me and besides, if you don't like doing it there no real surprise you don't do it I guess.
What would you consider a bad garden?
An oil stained concrete parking lot.
That's not even a garden, just terrible surroundings x_x
I can’t thing of what makes up a bad garden really, this was what came to mind.
When the weather is as good as that I do love a drive in the countryside. Especially when the destination is like that. Place looks awesome. Although I might have said that already! 😀
Lol...yeah, you saw these images first on the day of taking them, but fuck it, I thought I'd post them anyway.
The weather was great that day as you know...not like today which is a typical Scottish summer day here in Australia...15 degrees, windy and rainy. 😜
They are cracking photos!!
Funnily enough, we are having a mini unprecedented heatwave. It is in the high twenties all this week!!
Break out the 50+ man, you don't want to get a sub burn!
I'm smeared. We are feart of the rays!!
Iam sure the owner of this house should have had a healthy lifestyle free from polluted areas. The flowers and their vibrant colours are just amazing. Hope this should be one of your most beautiful experience in life.
It certainly was an amazing experience.
God, this wonderful garden. Your description is as fascinating as the explosion of colour that it is in itself... Ay Galenkp, for me this is happiness in its purest form.
It certainly was a great place to visit and wander around for a while. It was so peaceful and to see all the flowers around...it was worth the effort to get there. Thanks for commenting.
You are welcome. But it's been so long since I've visited a place like this... (I am thinking about our botanical garden)
I need to escape to nature, like @saraleo, I want my screen to be mountains, forest, rivers, waterfalls... and lots and lots of flowers. By the way, that Henri Matisse phrase you brought here I love it.
The distance you've traveled... mmmm, it's been enormous. There and back on the same day?
I visit the botanic gardens regularly, we have two, one in the city and one in the Adelaide Hills and a place called Mt Lofty, both are very different but enjoyable in their own ways. I hope you get to somewhere like this, the gardens soon; I know what longing for natural places does, and how one feels when there.
Yes, it was a long drive but that's Australia I guess, it's vast. I don't mind though, I like driving and when urban areas give way to fields, forest, rolling hills and big skies. That's when I'm in my element.
Thanks for your comment again, and yeah it's a great quote right? 😊
😁 thank me again. Yes, yes and yes. Beautiful quote and flowers. Those white and pink ones that look like a little butterfly, what are they called?
A good question. They are the Anemone Poppy. They come in a variety of colours.)
Well, I like them very much. I don't know what the others are called either, nor if they smell good, but don't be mortified.
What a picturesque adventure! Your photos capture the serene beauty of this private garden and the surrounding countryside. A perfect day of nature and exploration. 🌷🌳📸
It was top notch indeed and I'm fortunate to have had the chance to enjoy it.
It was worth driving 100km to be there. Impressive how many flowers, and I hope someone says taking care of this wonder! 🙏 Thank you for giving us these images!!! It renews my hopes in humanity...
It certainly was worth the effort and I'm glad to have seen it as it looks like it won't continue.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it.
So at least you were able to leave a good number of images for the memory of this beautiful site. Good job !!!
I was waiting for this post 😃 Reading last week that you would go to a private open garden once a year seemed like one of the best experiences a weekend could bring.
The pictures look amazing 🤩 All those colors fill my eyes. The last photo looks so beautiful to me. A wedding would be very romantic in that place, for example. That path of stones, the flowers all around and the tree covering the bride and groom.... Such a beauty 😻 It's a pity it won't be able to open its doors anymore.
It was a really great place and I'm so pleased I took the time to get out there. I have other photos and will use them on posts in the near future so if you keep an eye out you'll see some more of the garden. Thanks for your comment and have a great weekend.
What an amazing garden it really is, I have never seen anything like it before and I didn't know about these private gardens being open to the public.
More than 200 pictures, I can imagine, it is too beautiful.
The last picture is super! I kept looking at it for a long time, imagining myself there and walking along that path.
Driving.... because I don't drive but walking aimlessly and without time, I love that. The last time was a few days ago, I was with my family and we ended up in a beautiful park having a picnic, last Thursday, family day. We had a great time, there was no timetable and the place was beautiful. I will come back for pictures, I just lived that day.
I liked it very much, I reiterate, sure there will be more publications of this great place.
Thanks Galen!
It was a great day all round and yeah, I'll probably do another post at some stage and show some of the other photos.
Walking in nature brings the same enjoyment as driving in the countryside. I drive because I have to do so to get places, I live in a vast country.
Australia must be beautiful, huge and very nice to go around!
Yes walking in nature is great!
That is such a beautiful place. How special that she shared her special garden with everyone, even if it was just once a year. It's too bad some young volunteers don't offer to help keep it up. Maybe she will be able to keep a small part of it for her personal enjoyment at least. One can hope.
Looks like that was the perfect day to walk around that special garden.
I can't even remember the last time I took a trip with no destination. There is a magazine for our state that highlights the places and things you hear about and some that you don't. I contemplated the idea of subscribing to the magazine and going to see or try something in it once a month.... then..... covid and the though disappeared. Maybe I should resurrect the idea.
She's quite and old lady, I met her on Sunday. Her daughter helps out a little, but it's getting too much for both and the property is quite remote which makes it difficult for volunteers. Quite sad.
I find these places through gardening magazines and word of mouth and try to visit as many as I can. I'm a busy guy though and it's difficult sometimes. I'm glad I made the time to see this one though, and yeah, it was a great day for it.
I hope you manage to get to some of these gardens around your area sometime; I think you'll enjoy it.
I was curious when I read last week that you said you were going to a garden that was open just for the day, or weekend as the case may be.
It seemed an incredibly short window, now I see why. That is sad, that a labour of love must come to an end for someone who clearly had such a passion for horticulture. Maybe they also had a passion for sharing beauty with others, raising a smile from them. I would love to think that played a large part.
The world needs more of those people.
M'lady and I went for some 'us time' coupled with exercise earlier in the evening, we were not sure if it would be a green space but opted for a fabulously misty seaside resort that we don't get to very often. I too, took (oddly enough) a little over 200 photos as I was going to post tonight. Although many of those were a collage of crap people had left behind, seriously, there is bins every-fucking-where, as you can guess, that pisses me off.
I wrote a post and sadly have been unable to click the publish button as the images are not showing (most of them, anyway. It seems some people are having image upload issues but even stranger, some are not.
I will have to wait to see the images in your post as they do not load for me at the moment, your pictures are worth the wait though, whereas mine look like crap as I just don't have an eye for composition, although I did practice some interesting positioning
G'night mate :)
ITts done often here, private people open up their gardens a couple of weekends a year and provide some refreshments, charge a nominal fee $10-$20 to get in...I've been to many and often get great value as a gardener personally, and from a personal perspective also.
I'm glad to hear you folks are finding time for yourselves, that's very important and to do so in natural places helps you both find an extra layer of peace and to connect with the planet...also important. (In my opinion.) Too bad on the photos...I have taken many shite ones myself so I know how frustrating it can be. Made made stuff (and people) get in the way and I prefer not to have them in my shots mostly, especially bins.
I'm sorry you couldn't see my images, not sure why, internet issues on your end perhaps considering your issues with your own photos...I'm sure you'll come back when you can and take a look, I'd love your feedback on this garden.
Night bro.
Bloody stunning! It is close enough to an act of charity that this lady has shared her garden with the outside world so to speak. It has that effortless wild garden feel that is far from effortless. The perspective in that very first picture is 'tempting', strange word I know but it makes me want to drop everything and go spend some stress free, unplugged ,dropped out time in nature, away from the everyday world.
I am a little biased though as I am sure they are grape hyacinths, one of my very favourite flowers, reminiscent of Sunday mornings spent tending the garden with my Grandad, while Nana prepped Sunday lunch, Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, mint and sprouts we had chopped that morning. Funny what can spark a memory, sometimes, even after so many years, I miss them both so tangibly but feel so much gratitude for the memories.
If I describe the first picture as tempting, then I am left without a way to describe that quaint little path through what looks like a wild meadow under a canopy of trees, that really makes me want to crawl in to the scene.
I understand your view entirely but I sometimes enjoy the urban vs beauty shots at times, there is something fascinating in the juxtaposition of what feels like worlds colliding, photoshop the bins and lampposts out and you get a sense of what it must've been like before we showed up on the planet, throwing up malls, spewing out smoke and leaving plastic bottles and wrappers every-fucking-place-we-go.
You'll not hear me swear too often but that does it for me!
My responses are as time sensitive as ever, I have so many tabs open of stuff I want to get back to but of course ramble on like an idiot, who cannot even spell succinct, worrying I will not manage to say all I had hoped.
I've done a few beach walks and urban ones of late, trying to walk off a sense of apathy to spark something... These images convince me, I need green today before Summer dies it's final death once again.
Thanks for always trying to show the world just as you have seen it through well crafted work and an attention to detail I simply do not have, it is appreciated. Something about seeing these grounds is life affirming.
Be well mate 😎
Tab closed
There's a lot of open gardens around this time of year, I'm going to another one on Sunday this week actually, a little. Closer to home this time. It's a good way for people to show off their efforts to other like-minded people and a good place to get some ideas and speak with people doing the same as I do; gardening.
The purple ones are grape hyacinths yes, quite a nice little flower really, and in open fields like this, visually impactful. As you point out, there's a lot of man made clutter in life these days and I prefer to avoid it when possible, the country boy in me I guess, and this place was a very nice spot to spend some time.
Hopefully you manage to wrong a little more value from Summer and as the cooler months come along you find something outside to do regardless.
All the best with those 83 tabs.
Wao! The garden is really beautiful. I get a lot of peace from the photos you took. I love taking nature walks, it becomes even more fun without knowing the fixed destination, although there is always the risk of getting lost. I recently met a very beautiful place near where I live and I had the opportunity to do this, it can give vice, I confirm it, for me I would do it every day :)
It sure is, and it certainly was peaceful as well. Walks in nature, like you do, are so great for the soul I think, and they bring me peace of mind and some time to reflect or simply open up to nature and be still of mind. I wish you many such walks and hope you'll post on some of them so I can come along to some extent. 😀
That's done 😎
Always amazing shots from you. I do like country side travels, im luck to live not in the city and wonderful views are near mea
Thank you, I appreciate your kind words. It's great you manage to find some natural places close to you, I have the same as well, and I take advantage often.
just like you said in the quote above, I always find beauty around because there is always one
Those are some beautiful flowers …. On weekends I take long bike rides along the back country roads and meadows just to hear the crickets. Nothing better than being in Nature.
Thank you, I appreciate you saying so.
No matter how one engages with nature the benefit is there, it seems to reach inside a person and take hold right? I can't imagine life without my time spent on days like this one and so I seek them as often as possible.
Thanks for your comment.
Man... They are so beautiful. I loved the last scene specially.
Thank you, it was a great day and the garden, a free-form garden was pretty great! I appreciate your comment.
You welcome mate.
I just love to spend time in an environment like this.
I'm very fortunate to live in a location that is surrounded by such places and to have the desire and ability to go out of my way to find and visit them. Places like this feed my soul and make me happy.
That's one of the things that is nice about the US, we have plenty of open spaces and back roads to get you from one place to another. Or nowhere in particular if that is your pleasure. I'm looking forward to doing some road tripping next month. My wife and I did a bit more exploring in this vein than usual the past summer since we didn't take our dog camping with us at all. It gave us more freedom to explore.
One of the cool things about living in a cast country indeed, Australia is the same.
Doing day trips or longer, is one of my great enjoyments and I'm working towards a year or so off to drive around Australia in my four wheel drive. No set destination. I'll wait for your road trip posts...
When I was a kid we used to go on them all the time. Pack a picnic lunch and find a roadside park. I'd love to do that more with my wife, but the weekends are just too short and adulting is hard work. Most weekends my wife is happy just to nap most of the day!
It's difficult to schedule in sometimes, life is so busy these days, but I try balance it out and days like this are important to me as they help centre me and that means better productivity. I know what you mean though, being an adult is bloody time consuming. 😏
Great post, @galenkp !
The last time that I've took a ride to the countryside, was to visit a natural park, but the idea of visiting a private garden is so invigorating! Those flowers reminded me the garden that my grandma used to had
Cheers
Hey mate, thanks for dropping in, I'm glad you liked the post. It is a little difficult to represent the garden as it was in real life, especially with my limited photographic skills, but I'm glad you thought it looked good. I've got some other photos I'll use eventually but didn't want to overload this post with them as sometimes less is more.
I envy your grandma if she had a garden like this, I can imagine it was something to behold. 😊
The last photo is picturesque. The closeup photos really show the beauty of the flowers. I would have hoped there were more photos from a farther perspective. Seeing the wide array of colors blending together is nice. Unfortunately, there are no private gardens near us, or that I know of. I wouldn't really go, unless it is a really big area to make it worth it. And like you did, I would want to do something else along the way or near the area.
I have over 200 photos however chose to limit them to these few for now.
No gardens, but you wouldn't go anyway; this seems like a good mix for you. I guess not everyone has the same interests and I'm sure you fund plenty of other things to do.
I guess you didn't really finish reading my comment:
That's ok. I understand you're busy.
Yeah, I'm flat out, as always.
I'm happy you managed to visit this garden in time because it would be a loss to be gone without taking some pictures of the flowers which look absolutely amazing. And your photography skills are no less impressive 👀
It was really cool and a nice drive in the countryside.
It's a shame to see places like this decline however the owner is an older lady and there's no one to take over it for her, no one that wants to. It's quite remote so either some people from the local area will need to step up, which hasn't happened to date, or the place will have to be left altogether. I can't imagine the owner will be able to live there by herself for many more years.
I'm glad I saw it though, and yes it's pretty nice there, a really great demonstration how gardening and the natural landscape can come together.
I've seen plenty of places like this falling apart in time. Even if it's flowers, they do need specific care and connection with the owner just like a pet or member of family. Too bad not many see it that way and start judging instead of doing research to see how much effort it requires to take care of a garden no matter its size.
When I was travelling through the UK I went to many gardens, not all private, some of the National Trust properties, castles and Manor Houses, and they all had a unique style to them. Of course, the National Trust have the funds to maintain them so they all looked amazing, but unfortunately the same can't be said for many private gardens They're a labour of love and when the individual isn't capable there's often no one to take over. It's very sad.
Still, this woman has dedicated many years of her life to it and has received a lot of happiness so I guess she is content with that.
I wish that she will be okay with her health. The garden is beautiful. 300 km is a long drive according to the standards of my country.
Moreover, I spend time with nature. When I spend days in hostel I do hike to margalla hills where we enjoy the nature by hearing the voices of birds and by seeing the waving of bushes and leaves of trees.
I have no idea...she's just old and will die eventually, like you and I.
Yeah, it's a fair way but here not really. I sometimes do 600km in a day, head north, do what I have to do and back in the same day. It's just how it is.
I'm not familiar with the margalla hills area but that's not a surprise, I have no clue about your country other than where it's situated in respect of other countries, Afghanistan for instance. It's north of Lahore though I think.
Lahore is actually part of our country. Lahore is my favourite City. It's rich with culture and there are so many historical sites from Mughal Era. On the other side of Lahore India started which is also a beautiful country with so many languages.
On Karachi side there is Arabian Sea.
One side is attached with Afghanistan,Iran and the other is attached with China.
The garden looks very large, she really has some super powers to maintain such large and beautiful garden alone.
It is sad that this is the last opening of the garden, I am thinking that why she is not hiring some gardeners for taking care of the garden..?
Well, as we talk about myself. I am currently living in my village where there is greenary everywhere and no specific need of such gardens. I think these gardens are needed in city life where natural beauty is vanishing day by day.
Well, if we
It was a great place to visit and she's done an amazing job over the years. There's many thousands of bulbs planted and other things besides, I can only imagine the work it would take.
It's a private house and not open to the public generally so there's no revenue to pay anyone; it's not a business.
I think there can never be enough gardens.
Yes it is clear that much hardwork is needed for maintaining this kind of garden.
Oh okie, this big garden is a private one. And i was thinking that she might be charging tickets. Beleive me if this kind of garden was here in my country side, the owner might have made millions from it till now.
Yup. A village itself is a garden.
She was, $10/person, but she's open only one weekend a year as I said in this post...so, even if she had 200 people there (which she did not) it's only $2,000 which doesn't go far here, it's not even a single month's loan repayment on the average house loan and it would cost her far more than that to run this garden.
Oh okie.
Mmm last question..
Will this garden turn into a barren land now?:(
There's a house on the land, where the lady lives. She'll eventually pass on and ownership will go to whomever she has willed it to in her estate. I don't think whomever owns it will keep up with the garden, (otherwise they would be doing it already), so it will not get tended and fall to ruin. The flowers will keep coming up, maybe for many years, but it'll probably cease being a tended garden.
Maybe the house will get sold on to someone else, (It would be a nice place to live), and the new owner will maintain the garden however considering the fairly remote location it's probably doubtful. Time will tell.
Oh okie. Finally i understand everything.
Thanks for your responses.
For me it's time to go to sleep, in fact I should have done it a long time ago, I'm glad I stopped by and could close my eyes with such beautiful images, that garden sure is like a little paradise 😍😍.
And how nice that the day was so radiant, with a splendid blue sky, helping to make the images even more beautiful.
Thanks for delaying your precious sleep to come past and make a comment as well, I appreciate that. It was a lovely day and the garden was well worth the effort to get there; I'm glad I headed out there despite it being so far which probably prevents people going there considering the cost of fuel here.
Anyway, I hope you have a nice sleep, I'm sure I'll see you around in the near future.
Without a doubt, I think it was worth it to get to that garden. I'm glad you made the decision to go and that you were able to do it.
Last night I saw the photos almost asleep and from my phone, I still enjoyed them but today I saw them in more detail and on the big screen of the computer, I still sigh, they are all beautiful but the last 4 are dreamy.
I'm glad you saw them on your computer as I think they would look better that way. Thanks for letting me know.
It feels good to hear and know that one can actually plan and take a "leisure" ride to a garden. Where I come from, we don't even have that - a garden. I now feel like I'll try something of sort someday when I relocate to a city with garden whether public or private.
I love your pictures and post. If the flowers appear this lovely in pictures, I can't imagine how beautiful they are in reality.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful shots.
You don't have gardens where you're from? That sounds quite curious.
The garden I visited was far better than my images depict, and not just because the flowers, it was everything from the peace and quiet, the fresh air, the lovely day...it was good on many levels. I'm glad you like the shots, thanks for commenting.
Such a beautiful garden, it's a pity that it will not be available anymore 😥
I love doing all these things but just not so much in Singapore due to the weather! 😖
However, I do enjoy a late night drive, taking the car out for a spin when the city goes to sleep.
No particular destination in mind, a mindless drive that allows me to unwind for the day! 😊
It's sad yes, the lady just doesn't have anyone to help her and being so far away from anywhere it's not an attractive prospect to people for them to travel out so far.
I love Singapore, my father was born not too far away, and I've been there a lot, every year for the F1 GP and as I've transited through to Europe and other places. I love the Gardens at the Bay and if I lived there would spend a lot of time there I think, it's a very enjoyable environment. It's a busy city though and I guess, like you say, drives at night with less traffic are the way to go.
I'm not coming up for the race this year but should be there next year for it and am really looking forward to it.
Sure, I love Singapore as well, but I must admit that the consistently hot and humid weather we experience all year round can be a bit of a turn off for us locals!
Traveling around the world to attend Formula 1 races must have been quite an exciting journey in its own right! I never really followed Formula 1 until I watched the Netflix series "Drive To Survive" recently. Have you seen it too? 😁
Your humidity and heat is not pleasant at all, I don't get that sort of weather in the part of Australia I reside in, (the humidity I mean, it gets very hot though), the humidity is more of a tropical north thing. It's confronting but fortunately the race is at night so it's a little cooler. Getting to the track at 4pm can be a problem though. It's all good though I guess, I'd rather put up with some heat and humidity and be there rather than not be there at all.
I've seen all seasons of Drive to Survive, it starts the Formula One season off, wrapping up a lot of the behind the scenes stuff from the previous year and it's quite entertaining. It's brought a lot of new people to the sport. I started watching back in 1979 (I was nine) and have watched every season since. I'm old huh? 😉
Not that old, or at least a hippy old? The things that you're doing or is involved in are pretty cool, so I won't classify that as old 😅
Yeah the show definitely brought me into Formula One and is pretty excited to catch it in Singapore this time round, especially when I can identify some of those racers now 🤣
I'm the antitheses of a hippy.
I'm not old, I just say it for fun I guess...it amuses me somewhat for some reason.
I'm jealous...Usually I flow out from Australia on the Thursday prior to the race weekend (so next Thursday) and stay for a week...I love it man...but this year I'll have to watch on TV, also good, but not as good.
I had to google what "antitheses" means, sorry for the poor command of my English language 😅
The prices for hotels near the racetrack are incredibly high. I initially wanted to book a night to celebrate my wife and my anniversary while attending the race, but it looks like a smarter choice to purchase Formula 1 race tickets and sleep back at home instead! 🤣
Wow! The owner is so thoughtful opening their garden for public even just in a single weekend.
I am amazed by their garden, a lot of beautiful flowers. I wondered how they take care of them all and wow planted different kinds of flowers is amazing.
Hopefully there will be someone who will continue to take care that garden.
Most gardeners are proud of their gardens and know that other gardeners and nature-lovers like to see what other people are doing so she's opened this garden for many years. It's sad she'll not continue but age is catching up with her. It's really a nice place to visit and the garden itself, very unstructured, is quite amazing.