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The one and a half acre garden is a work-in-progress.
It features many box hedges, flowering cherries, azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, roses, hydrangeas and magnolias. Each of the seasons provides its own delights but spring is a favourite and the autumn display of colour from the liquid ambers, the oaks, the gingko and the persimmon, is a close second.
Bird life in the garden is a constant pleasure with many indigenous and exotic species present including bellbirds, quail, tui, native pigeon, fantail, shining cuckoo, pheasants, kingfisher, morepork and swallows.
The exposure to wind and weather at this altitude and the opossum make for interesting challenges. The district has of recent years had an extensive opossum eradication system in place which has proven most effective in the elimination of this pest.
In a clock-wise direction from the Ironworks Gazebo, the garden features include the Rhododendron Circle, the White Garden, the Formal Kitchen Garden, the Sun Gate, the Windsdropped Courtyard and the Flagpole area. Based on the garden style of the late French woman Nicole de Vesian, the Jardin des Boules , comprises approximately eighty clipped topiary balls of box, santolina, hebe, lonicera and teucrium. Landscaping in this part of the garden was designed by Tina Mc Harg of Cambridge, and constructed by Sefton Banks, Builder of Cambridge. To the East is an enclosed potager of medicinal and culinary herbs featuring crushed marble statuary from Pheonix Italia.
The garden has hosted many Family and Club functions. In January 2001, after their marriage in St. Andrews Church Cambridge, the garden was the setting for the summer wedding reception for our daughter Ellen and Stuart Nicholson. With an open-sided marquee, catering by Museum Cafe, Hamilton and the serene sounds of a string quartet, it provided a truly memorable setting for this very special family event. Following the marriage of our younger daughter Amy and Cliff Beech at Sarnia Park Cambridge, in October 2006, guests were invited to the farm for the evening drinks and nibbles on the lawn. The summer annuals and pots were all planted in the bridal colours.
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