Hunter Valley Gardens – Part 2

For those who missed Part 1 of this tour you can find it here.

My previous post left us at The Sunken Garden (5). From here we followed the meandering path uphill, past children’s rides which are active during school holidays and other special occasions, and continued into the garden that is designed specifically with them in mind.

Random Eucalyptus Trees on walk to Storybook Garden

6. The Storybook Garden features over 15 traditional popular storybook characters such as Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill tumbling down the hill, Alice in Wonderland at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, Little Bo Peep and many more. Timeless nursery rhymes are written out in full, and there was a moment I wondered if I would have to leave Bill behind as he stood and read nearly every one of them. It was a delight to see young children recognise their favourite characters and rush off to Mum and Dad to recite from memory. And all set within leafy green trees and bushes and various hardy flowers such as impatiens. We have two prolific pots of these on our balcony, and, looking back, I can scarcely believe how I almost killed the original small plant.

Bill welcomes you to the Storybook Garden

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Random Topiary Gardener

7. Now we had reached the topmost point of the garden, and started back down again via the Border Garden. This was a very interesting garden as you can stroll through it at ground level, and then climb a viewing platform to see it from above. The area is surrounded by intertwined hedges of an Australian native – Hill’s Weeping figs – together with European boxwood. The interior is classic French Parterre and includes hand-carved Indian marble water features and statues representing the Four Seasons. The top garden features the ‘R’ signature of its founder. Some of the garden beds were empty on our autumn visit, so I have copied this photo from the website to show what it looks like when full.

Source: https://www.huntervalleygardens.com.au/attractions/gardens/border-garden/#gallery1-2

How Bill captured the scene on the day of our visit

How Gwen captured the scene on the day of our visit

Close up of the new Border Garden Planting

Exiting from the east side, we paused at the Frog Ponds but I think they might have been out to lunch as I didn’t hear any croaking. Similarly, I failed to notice the “topiary Brokenback Brumbies galloping from the Brokenback Range to the watering holes of Hunter Valley Gardens“, and before we knew it, we had also wandered past The Italian Grotto (8) without completely appreciating the “red Bougainvillea, pink Wisteria and cascading Geraniums, Pelargoniums, and many other hidden delights. In the style of a true Italian garden there are edible plants including lemon, orange, olive trees.” I was more focused on remembering that we had visited the pilgrimage site of St Francis’ hermitage: Eremi Di Carceri when we had been in Assisi in 2013. You can read about that here if you are interested.

Source: https://www.huntervalleygardens.com.au/attractions/gardens/italian-grotto/#gallery1-1

But by the time we had reached The Oriental Garden (9), I definitely had my wits about me. Judging by the number of photos I took this must have been the garden which evoked the most sensory reaction in me. Heavily influenced by Japanese and Korean gardens, the garden flows with natural curves and precisely trimmed bushes. It is intended as a place of harmony, balance, and serenity.

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The final garden of the complex is The Lakes Walk (10). Thinking that we could stroll through this and exit near the chapel shown on the above map, which is where we had parked our car*, I suggested we side-track to the café for a light lunch and cool drink. I bumbled that a bit, because the entry and exit are together and the café beside them. It didn’t matter to us, as we were definitely ready for a break, but something to keep in mind if you are visiting and similarly confused. (* There is plenty of parking at the garden entrance. We just hadn’t driven on far enough to realise that).

Suitably fortified, we set off for our final stroll through this secluded part of the garden, following paths beside the waterways, lined with perennial borders, annuals, trees and shrubs. The Lakes Rotunda is another popular spot for wedding ceremonies, as is the Chapel, which was closed for a private function on the day of our visit.

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Along the way, I indulged in my favourite hobby of spotting unusual tree trunks.

The walk looks quite a hike on the map, but that is deceptive. It’s about 1.5klm or a little under a mile, round trip. We were soon enough back at the exit and finished off our visit by pausing a while to watch Aqua Golf, which is a separate activity nearby. It’s akin to a golf driving range except you have to try to land your ball in various baskets scattered on a small lake. As you might expect, there were plenty of misses.

Source, https://www.huntervalleygardens.com.au/location/aqua-golf-putt-putt/#gallery1-3

When entering the Hunter Valley Gardens complex, we had parked our car at the first place we came to, which is in fact the Shopping Village, a “unique collection of bespoke shops offering everything from delicious meals, lunchtime treats, coffee and wine to stunning glassware, jewellery and unique clothing.” We had a pleasant exploration of these for a short while, and then headed off to our accommodation, the Chateau Elan at The Vintage, which was to be home the next two nights. More about that in the next post.

The above visit took place on Sunday 20th March 2022.