Serena Beresford-Wylie, pictured with her husband Adrian, is leading volunteers to launch the inaugural Goulburn Spring Gardens in October. Eight magnificent gardens large and small will be featured over two days, drawing attention to the city’s exceptional heritage homes. Photo: John Thistleton.
About two years ago in Goulburn a woman followed her curiosity about heritage homes and enchanting gardens surrounding them.
Along a winding path neatly made of secondhand bricks, past a bubbling fountain, under giant old oaks and looking over a sunlit river, overwhelming confirmation came that an open garden scheme surely was Goulburn’s golden opportunity.
Serena Beresford-Wylie found just enough answers to her curiosity that had grown when she and her husband Adrian bought their 1890 two-storey home in Hurst Street. From there, she needed to know more about heritage homes.
She joined the Australian Garden History Society and discovered Crookwell, Braidwood, Canberra, Bowral and Bundanoon had their own open garden schemes. So she thought, why not Goulburn?
“Particularly since Goulburn has so much to show off,” she said.
Still working as a public servant in Canberra in those early stages, Serena found when Goulburn came up in conversations her colleagues remarked how cold the city was and the extent of their knowledge was limited to the Paragon Cafe, Big Merino and jail.
“And I thought that is just such a shame,” she said. “People in Canberra are always looking for something to do at weekends. They go in droves to Braidwood and Bungendore and you could see how Braidwood and Bungendore have developed in response to that. Goulburn was off the radar however.”
After airing her ideas for an open garden scheme with like-minded people, jumping through the hoops of becoming an incorporated body for insurance and funding purposes, she and her new-found helpers signed up eight outstanding gardens.
Now their budding Southern Tablelands Open Gardens Association Inc. has stepped forward proposing the inaugural Goulburn Spring Gardens on the weekend of 18 and 19 October.
Belonging to both Goulburn garden clubs and having an enthusiastic committee – which includes landscape designer Lorna Vallely and Peter Ogilvie, president of the Goulburn Garden Club – helped identify outstanding candidates for the open spring gardens.
Historic homestead Garroorigang became an obvious choice. The rejuvenated Rossiville with arresting river views and Longfield with its graceful 1840s stone homestead were added to the program.
Another notable garden Birklees is nearby to the Beresford-Wylies’ place.
“We walked the dogs past and looked through their beautiful gate at their lovely fountain and box hedges and thought it looked like a nice secret garden and approached them out of the blue,” Serena said. Consequently Birklees is now on the program.
Featured on Gardening Australia in 2024, another one of the eight gardens, ‘Summer Garden’ at Bradfordville was established by Bozena Peplowska who took a pick to the clay soil in her garden years ago to create her flower and fruit-filled wonderland. (More gardens can be found at the bottom of the webpage titled Goulburn Spring Gardens.
Grand, centuries-old oak trees, a huge assortment of bulbs, ancient lilacs, all manner of roses and showers of different flowers and shrubs winding their way around brick paths, hedges and stone walls will be on show for the open weekend.
Coinciding with the Steampunk Festival on 18 October, the Goulburn Spring Gardens weekend will be ideal for cross-promotion.
The website and weekend will promote Goulburn’s pioneer cemeteries, self-guided tours, discounted accommodation and other heritage architecture.
Adrian Beresford-Wylie, a member of the Goulburn Heritage Group, said a short walk around the central residential areas of Cowper, Beppo and Hurst streets would take people past 60 homes, 25 of which were heritage-listed and another 20 were Victorian or Federation houses.
“You don’t get the scale of those streetscapes with lots of trees in other places,” he said.
He and Serena believe people are inspired by small gardens as well as larger country gardens and this is reflected in the range of gardens to be opened in the spring event.
Serena said the Southern Tablelands’ fierce frosts and extreme summers created strong characteristics.
“I actually think we don’t make enough of the Southern Tablelands because it is quite distinct from the surrounding regions and has strong characteristics,” she said. “Throughout this area there are the long vistas with the lovely mountains the backdrop. I think there is room to make a lot more of those features.”
A large network of garden clubs are sharing news of the inaugural Goulburn weekend featuring unseen gardens, and coaches are already being booked.
The Goulburn Spring Gardens are on 18 and 19 October throughout Goulburn and district. $5 per garden; all gardens, $25.
