The Gardens
1. Markdale
462 Mulgowrie Road, Crooked Corner
Acknowledged as one of the great country gardens of Australia, Markdale was started in the 1920s and redesigned in 1947 by the pioneer of Australian landscape gardening, Edna Walling. Spanning 5 acres, the garden is said to be one of the most intact examples of her garden design in New South Wales. It features her signature design—blending native plants and exotics, Thyme lawns, informal garden pool and hand-built paths. Garden features include a pergola of blue and white Wisteria, stunning golden and weeping Elms, a profusion of Roses, a stone-walled garden and a sweeping lawn down to a small lake.
2. Ballynew
783 Woodville Road, Binda
Mike and Marguerite Walsh started to develop their garden at Ballynew in 2015 after deciding to retire permanently to their rural retreat. Designed by Lorna Vallely, the garden takes full advantage of its location perched high on a granite boulder studded hilltop.
Crabapple ‘Sugar Tyme’ trees line the sweeping driveway that leads to the house, which provides magnificent views over the rolling hills and valleys from its strategically placed verandas.
As you approach the house and garden you are greeted by a wonderful, gnarly old Yellow Box tree, poised like a sentinel guarding the land.
At the front of the house, the rose garden greets you with a colourful mixture of heritage and hybrid roses.
A crushed granite path leads you through the pergola to a beautiful series of garden rooms brimming with an assortment of native plants, irises, bulbs, English Lavender, salvias, penstemons, Seaside Daisy, more roses, catmints and camellias.
A lovely drystone wall frames the lawn and an outdoor entertaining area. Look for the well-established and flourishing Star Jasmine.
The rear of the house has island beds with Magnolia, Crepe Myrtle, Pomegranate, Quince and Japanese Maple, with a well-manicured Viburnum hedge separating the garden from a productive orchard and vegetable garden.
3. Hillview Cottage
1598 Wheeo Road, Wheeo
This garden features strategically created garden spaces nestled beneath a fabulous selection of trees. On a bright sunny day there is always somewhere to take time out, listen to happy birds and be mesmerized by the play of light and shadow. This garden invites you to explore, with carefully placed shrubs, screens and natural sculptures fashioned from old timbers, logs and branches.
As you are led through the mini woodlands and groves, you find sheltered nooks with chairs and tables set below shady trees. The garden also entices you to forget the hustle and bustle of life, leave behind your cares and just sit for a while and contemplate.
4. Mowbray
1149 Wheeo Road, Wheeo
Dating back to 1952, Mowbray is a very well-planned garden. Wonderfully generous sweeping lawns and carefully designed plantings of trees and shrubs underplanted with a diversity of perennials create large garden rooms. This large country garden presents a comfortable blend of spaciousness and cosiness. You won't feel claustrophobic, but equally the garden creates a sense of privacy, seclusion and protection. It's a peaceful place to take some time out and the design invites you to explore. There are many interesting trees and shrubs and some quite unusual plants here.
5. Balcony Rose
17 Carrington Street, Crookwell
Steeped in history, Balcony Rose is truly part of Crookwell’s heritage, with the house dating back over a hundred years to the late 1890s. Built by master stonemason David Larcombe and featuring the famous balcony with its intricate cast iron railings and climbing roses, it’s worth coming just to see the wonderful old building.
A fine dwelling requires an appropriate garden to complement it and as you might expect, this large garden is long established and features very large, mature trees.
A wide variety of cool climate deciduous trees provide cool shade in summer and colourful carpets of leaves in autumn. After autumn rains Fly Agarics and other intriguing toadstools pop up everywhere through the drifts of leaves, adding to the sensation of being in an ancient forest.
There are unusual conifers too, and a selection of shrubs, with lots of spring flowering bulbs. Add in a large pond and a wet meadow, and you have a perfect place for wildlife. There are creatures everywhere, foraging through the canopies of the towering trees, the understorey shrubs and extensive patches of groundcover plants. Superb Fairy Wrens forage through the shrubbery, wild ducks enjoy the pond and as you might expect frogs abound.
A large “Bug Hotel” nestles in the undergrowth and provides additional habitat for wildlife.
As with the other gardens in the Crookwell Garden Festival, there are many additional surprises located in the garden. A finely crafted stone wall, metal sheep and intricately fashioned gate arches. A wonderful and very productive vegetable garden.
All of these add to the enjoyment by adding just that little subtle touch of human contrast and enhance the sensation of wilderness evoked by this extensive and very mature garden.
It’s a place to enjoy history, heritage and nature. And springtime in this garden is sure to be absolutely sensational with fresh, new leaves bursting forth and spring flowering bulbs putting on a stunning display.
6. Pratten Garden
63 Wade Street, Crookwell
A gem of a town garden. It’s well established and very well cared for. A wonderful, gnarly old ornamental grape vine shades the rear of the house. Neatly clipped hedges frame parts of the garden. There are exquisite hydrangeas, roses and lots of fascinating perennials. A great outdoor entertaining area, adjacent to an enclosed and secluded lawn. Perfect for either breakfast with the birds or a summer soiree.
7. Paul Anderson Garden
183 Goulburn Street, Crookwell
If roses are your favourite bloom you won’t want to miss out on this garden. Paul Anderson is famous for his skill and years of experience in cultivating roses to perfection in his Crookwell Garden. However, there’s much more to this special garden than roses. Be sure to find out about the legendary Jack the Fossicker, part of Anderson family history, who made a fortune mining for sapphires, gold and diamonds in the local area. Plus this garden features some gorgeous tree and herbaceous Peonies, and a wonderful range of colourful cottage annuals, bulbs, perennials and shrubs. Not to mention the diverse garden art and other fascinating mementos of times past, each with a special story to tell.
8. The White's Garden
6 Gordon Street, Crookwell
A kaleidoscope of colours greets you as you enter this garden. Neat garden beds packed with a fascinating array of annuals, perennials, bulbs and shrubs. Cherry trees, weeping elms, azaleas, rhododendrons, conifers, garden art and windchimes. It’s a wonderfully enchanting place that invites you in to explore. As you round the house and enter the backyard, you will be greeted by two enormous and very majestic oak trees, one an English Oak and the other a Pin Oak, set in a large expanse of lawn. Try to resist the urge to run over and hug these magnificent trees if you can!
9. Woodward Lane Garden
Woodward Lane, Crookwell
Paul and Kerry have a great love of trees and have planted out an astonishingly diverse collection on their two hectare block over the last few years. Groves of Silver Birch, Cut-Leaf Birch and Purple Birch have been underplanted with a variety of bulbs and perennials. Crimson Sentry Maples and Ornamental Pears march along the boundaries and glorious Lipstick Maples line the driveway. Carefully placed Golden Elm, Geisha Elm, Liquidambar, Pin Oak, Nyssa, Plane, Chinese Pistachio, Claret Ash and Golden Ash. So many gorgeous trees!
