Jaime and I have never been particularly shy about facing a challenge, and starting Roseville Gatherings was no exception. We’re both people who are happy to dive into the deep end, usually with a reasonable amount of confidence, a few ideas about how things might work and a belief that we can figure out the rest along the way.
Not stupidity, obviously. At least, that’s what we tell ourselves.
But there is a difference between having a vision for something and knowing whether that vision will actually become what you imagine it might be. And as we sit here now, with Roseville Gatherings slowly becoming a reality, I think it’s fair to say we are about to find out.
We’ve had wonderful encouragement from the community and from people who can see what we’re trying to create. That means an enormous amount to us. But encouragement, as lovely as it is, doesn’t automatically mean people will walk through the gates and book an event. At some point, all the planning and preparation has to translate into something real.
And that is the rather exciting, slightly daunting position we find ourselves in.
It started with a feeling
When Jaime first came to see Roseville, he saw something beyond a beautiful garden and a place where garden clubs might occasionally visit. He saw potential. He could imagine the space being shared with other people, and he had a feeling that Roseville could become something more than simply the place we called home.
I think we’ve both always been like that. We look at things and wonder what else they could become. Neither of us has ever been particularly good at simply turning up to a nine-to-five job, doing the same thing every day and never wondering what else might be possible.
I don’t say that to blow our own trumpets. We’ve certainly had our share of ideas that have required a little more thought than we initially gave them. But we both enjoy creating something, building something and seeing where an idea might lead.
Roseville Gatherings began with conversations. Lots of them. Ideas were discussed, possibilities considered and plans slowly started to take shape. Eventually, something that had existed largely in our heads became a real project, with decisions to make and an awful lot of work to do.
And that’s where the romantic idea of hosting beautiful gatherings meets the reality of actually making them happen.
The things nobody sees
Jaime’s version of preparing Roseville involves a lot of walking around the property, looking at things and thinking.
Where will the electricity run to the paddock? How will we keep the fountain flowing? Where should the lighting go in the sunken garden? How will a marquee weighing around 400 kilograms actually get into position? Where will the dance floor sit? How will people enter and leave the space?
I have to give Jaime enormous credit here, because this is the sort of thing I cannot even begin to wrap my head around. I can look at a garden and imagine how beautiful it might look with lighting, or where people might gather and dance, but the actual mechanics of making all of that happen are well beyond me. Thankfully, they are not beyond him.
He can look at a paddock and start working out where the cables need to run, how the fountain will operate and how everything needs to come together. While I’m trying to work out how to word something on the website, he’s out there figuring out how to make the whole thing physically possible. Between us, we’re hoping that covers most bases.
Although, we have recently discovered that solving one problem can sometimes create another.
Take the toilets, for example.
We had been investigating where the toilets would go, which seemed like a perfectly sensible thing to work out early on. Except that, as we looked more closely at the property and the best position for the marquee, we realised that the spot we’d been considering for the toilets might actually be the ideal place for the marquee.
So now we have a new question.
If the marquee goes where we thought the toilets would go, where on earth do we put the toilets?
It’s amazing how quickly a romantic vision of garden gatherings can turn into a discussion about site plans, access, plumbing and the best place for people to answer nature’s call.
And this is just one of the many decisions still being worked through.
Meanwhile, my contribution often involves sitting at the computer for hours.
From the outside, I suspect it can look as though I’m sitting in the warmth, wearing my slippers and doing very little. In reality, I’m sending emails, building relationships with local suppliers, working through council requirements and compliance, researching how everything needs to operate, putting together the website and trying to work out how we actually get this thing off the ground.
It turns out there is a surprising amount of work involved in getting to the point where you can invite people onto your property and confidently say, yes, we can host your special occasion here.
There are details upon details. Things to organise, decisions to make and questions that lead to three more questions.
And just when you think you’ve ticked something off the list, another little job appears.
I suppose that’s what happens when you’re trying to create something properly rather than simply hoping everything will work out on the day.
A little help goes a long way
One of the most encouraging parts of this process has been the response from the community.
Council has been positive about what we’re trying to achieve, with the necessary restrictions and requirements in place, and we’ve had some incredibly helpful people along the way who have understood our vision and encouraged us to keep moving forward.
That support has meant a great deal to us. We want Roseville Gatherings to be something that adds to the area, brings people into the New England region and gives them another reason to discover this part of the world.
We’ve also been busy with property photography, and we have another photo shoot coming up that will help us show people a little more of what Roseville could offer.
It’s been exciting seeing the property photographed with a different purpose in mind. We’re so used to looking at Roseville as our home, with its never-ending garden jobs, things that need fixing and projects still waiting to be finished. To start thinking about how other people might experience it is a rather different way of looking at the place.
And then there is the upcoming wedding photo shoot, which will give us the opportunity to explore how the gardens and the farmhouse might look and feel when they’re prepared for a special occasion.
There is still a lot to work out, but gradually the idea is becoming something we can see, rather than something we simply talk about.
Do we know what we’re doing?
Every now and then, usually after we’ve spent a considerable amount of time discussing cables, lighting, access points or some other detail that nobody will ever notice in the photographs, one of us will stop and ask whether we actually know what we’re doing.
We generally laugh.
Then we get back to fixing things, making decisions and working through whatever needs attention next.
Because the truth is, we don’t have all the answers. We have both run businesses before, so we’re not completely unfamiliar with what it takes to get something off the ground. We know that passion is important, but it doesn’t replace planning, hard work or the need for people to actually come through the doors.
And we’re under no illusion that simply having a beautiful property means Roseville Gatherings will automatically be a success.
It is a gamble, starting something new. There is money, time and an enormous amount of effort involved, and we won’t know exactly what this will become until we get further down the track.
But there is also something rather wonderful about having an idea you believe in and being prepared to give it a go.
Another new chapter
The last few years have brought some wonderful things, some difficult things and a fair amount of change. Moving to Roseville was a big decision in itself, and we’ve spent the past months learning what country life looks like for us, working on the property and slowly making it our own.
Roseville Gatherings feels like another step in that journey.
We want to share the gardens, the history, the farmhouse and the atmosphere that makes this place special to us. We want people to come here for their own important moments and leave with memories of a place that offered something a little different.
There is still plenty to do before everything is quite where we want it to be. There will be more decisions, more lists, more things to organise and, I’m sure, the occasional moment when we wonder why we ever thought this was a good idea.
But we’re excited.
We believe there is something special here, and we’re willing to put in the work to see what it might become.
We don’t know exactly where Roseville Gatherings will take us. We do know that creating something together, at this stage of our lives, feels worth the effort and the risk.
And so, between the garden jobs, the cables, the photographs, the planning and all those little details nobody sees, we’ll keep working away.
One decision at a time.
One project at a time.
And hopefully, before too long, one gathering at a time. 🌿
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