Fresh Eyes and New Garden Beds at Roseville

Some weeks feel like everything suddenly starts falling into place.

After months of planning from Sydney, renovating, unpacking boxes and wondering what life at Roseville would actually look like, this week felt like one of those weeks.

The kitchen is slowly taking shape, Hamish and Fergus have settled in beautifully, new friendships have appeared in the most unexpected places and the front garden has finally started becoming the vision we had hoped for.

Sometimes all it takes is a few small things happening at once before you realise you’re starting to feel at home.

We are still very much in the creating and settling in stage, so of course there is plenty happening with the kitchen renovation and setting up the house. One thing I had set my sights on early in the piece—and you can see the before photos on Instagram—was the front of the house.

The farmhouse dates back to the 1890s and although the plants and bulbs were lovely, the large ferns hid so much of the beauty of the house. The garden just felt a little untidy, even for a country cottage garden.

The bulbs and oyster plants were all carefully dug out and replanted throughout the property and, quite unexpectedly, we made new friends simply by sharing a garden concept and asking for ideas in another one of my Facebook groups, New England Gardeners.

One thing I certainly didn’t expect was how useful Facebook groups would become. So far they have introduced us to Highland cows, local gardeners and some wonderful new friendships.

I didn’t want to discard any of the plants, especially the seventy-year-old ferns. It just so happened that a lovely lady from Armidale saw my post. Who would have thought? First the Highland cows and now this. I don’t make this stuff up.

She had just finished building a pond in the centre of her circular driveway and had been searching for something exactly like these ferns. Would we mind if she and her husband came and dug them out?

Absolutely.

They came up that weekend and, as it turns out, they also live in an original 1890s farmhouse with a garden not unlike ours and an orchard of 150 trees.

So naturally, we had absolutely nothing to talk about.

They carefully dug out the ferns, wrapped them in glad wrap and headed home. A few days later she sent me photos of them in their new home and they honestly look like they were always meant to be there. It is lovely knowing they have been given a second life instead of ending up on a compost heap.

After that I headed off in search of standard roses and English buxus. The next debate was what to plant between them for colour and height. Being completely new to cold-climate gardening, I still have plenty to learn. Salvia was high on my list because I love the colours, but I also know it can become a little leggy. We wanted the garden to feel formal, but not too formal—simple enough to show off the farmhouse because, let’s be honest, the rest of the garden already does a pretty good job of showing off.

The garden has welcomed visitors for many years and has featured in numerous garden shows. This year we will be part of the New England Garden Festival, which brings together wonderful people who simply love gardens. Roseville has been part of the festival before, but we are looking forward to experiencing it from a new perspective.

We have also had a couple of very experienced gardeners get in touch, which has us more than a little excited. I’ll save that story for another day because, if everything comes together, it could be something quite special.

We also decided to tackle the back entrance (which, if you have been following along, I should probably just call “the entrance” by now).

It wasn’t the prettiest part of the garden and we eventually decided that perhaps we already had enough garden to maintain. Instead, we started imagining a pergola where we could sit in the afternoon with a coffee or enjoy lunch in the sunshine.

Although we already have the fire pit and picnic table tucked away in the garden, this area catches the afternoon sun beautifully. The verandah can actually become too hot underfoot, so creating another outdoor space simply made sense.

Of course, no garden project would be complete without discovering something unexpected underneath.

Out came the large privet… followed by water pipes.

Thankfully Jaime was able to repair the leaks and make sure we still had running water.

Just another day in the life of a country renovation.

This week family and friends arrive and, thankfully, they don’t seem too concerned that we still don’t have a kitchen sink and our coffee station is currently a makeshift arrangement balanced on a temporary bench.

We also have a few more visitors scheduled over the coming month, which is lovely. One of the nicest surprises since moving here has been how many people have made the effort to come and visit us.

These really are exciting times.

We’re trying to savour the moments, appreciate the new scenery, spend time with Hamish and Fergus—because let’s face it, it is almost impossible to have a bad day after spending a few minutes with those two—and slowly settle into a different pace of life.

There is still plenty to do. The kitchen isn’t finished, the garden plans are only just beginning and I still have absolutely no idea what I’m doing with Highland cows.

But for the first time, Roseville is starting to feel like home.

I have a feeling this is only the beginning.