One of the things we’ve discovered since moving to Guyra is just how generous gardeners are with their time and knowledge. Whether it’s advice over a cup of tea, a cutting shared over the fence or welcoming complete newcomers into the gardening community, we’ve met some wonderful people over the past few months. This week was another reminder of that.
This week we had the pleasure of welcoming David Kennedy from Highfield Gardens in Little Hartley to Roseville. David was visiting Guyra to speak at the annual Garden Club lunch and kindly took the time to visit a few local gardens while he was here. We were delighted that Roseville was one of them.
David and Andrew have transformed what was once a cow paddock into one of Australia’s most beautiful private gardens. Across eight acres they’ve created a series of distinct garden spaces, each thoughtfully designed and planted by them. It’s an extraordinary achievement and well worth looking up if you love gardens. They also have built a beautiful guesthouse so others can enjoy the escarpments and view and of course their hospitality and gardens.
I’ll admit, we suddenly looked at the garden through very different eyes. When you know someone who can identify almost every plant is coming to visit, it’s amazing how quickly you find yourself pulling a few weeds and pretending you know exactly what you’re doing!
David arrived earlier in the day so we met him for lunch and introduced him to some of Guyra. Straight away it was wonderful to hear about their story and it is truly inspirational that all of the gardens have been designed and built by them. We admit to help but these two are an inspiration and incredibly talented at what they do. After lunch David came and had a look around and knew every plant in the garden and enjoyed seeing what has been created in our cold climate with different soil, weather, rain levels etc.
He had prepared a wonderful presentation on his garden at the Guyra Garden Club annual lunch and after looking through all the beautiful pictures we had a couple of questions.
David showed us photos, both of them were featured from the beginning of projects to the end, and we started asking questions.
“Who did the artwork?”
“Andrew.”
“Who designed the garden?”
“Andrew.”
“Who does the catering when the bus groups visit?”
“Andrew.”
I eventually laughed and asked,
“Is there anything Andrew can’t do?”
A truly talented couple, both with an eye for detail, but what inspired me was David’s absolute love for what he does. He didn’t say he loved it, but you can tell. He loves what they have created and the work and years that they have put in.
What stayed with me most wasn’t just the beauty of the gardens, but hearing David speak about the drought years. Watching something you’ve spent years creating struggle because there’s simply no water must be heartbreaking. You could hear how much the garden means to them. David and another wonderful gardener Jennifer who is across the other side of the mountain with a completely different climate (gardening really does get more fascinating by the minute) are both opening their gardens on 24th and 25th October 2026 for the Hartley Valley Garden Festival and I urge you to go if you love nature and beautiful things. It is the weekend before we open our garden for the New England Garden Festival. So much beauty to see over so many wonderful areas of New South Wales.
One of the unexpected joys of moving to Guyra has been discovering this community of gardeners. Everyone has been so generous with their encouragement, ideas and willingness to share what they’ve learnt over many years.
We’re still very much learning ourselves, but every conversation leaves us feeling a little more inspired. If you didn’t read my last post on the different seasons and what we are learning, you can read it here Four Seasons and Frost: What we’re learning about gardening in New England.
Roseville has already given us so much.
Now we’re beginning to dream about how we might one day share it with others too.
Watch this space…
The longer we live at Roseville, the more we realise that gardens aren’t really about plants.
They’re about the people who share them.
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