"Wattle Creek"

Just a few views of my parent's garden.

The walled garden

I am going to share something beautiful.

The "Walled Garden" at Wattle Creek.


Behind this door ....

Is a little piece of Paradise

Imagine seeing that out of your bedroom window each morning.

The folly at "Wattle Creek"

Tucked away, amonst the conifers is the "Folly", inspired by a visit to "Foxglove Spires' in southern NSW where a folly in the shape of a ruined church has been made. It was felt that an old cottage would be more appropriate for this garden.....

But it appears that someone has moved in......

and he has a weakness......

but has been able to make himself quite comfortable.....

I wonder if "Better Homes and gardens" are interested in a visit????

And its also a handy place for dying

Fabric that is!!!

The Chook Shed

A feature of most Australian back yards is the "chook pen", "Wattle Creek" is no exception. Half a dozen pampered girls (chickens/chooks/hens) live in the fox/ferret proof pen - they are ex-battery hens and must think they live in "Chook Heaven" (watch for further posts as to where "Chook Heaven"really is).

Note the shade cloth towards the back - it gets very hot in summer and the girls need to be protected from the heat.

Every good chook pen has a chook shed - the girls at Wattle Creek have a very interesting home.

It's an old tank with the front of an old wood stove joined onto the back.

And to get the eggs - you just open the oven door!

No eggs today!

Australia Day at Wattle Creek

Today saw a quick dash up to my parents' home, "Wattle Creek", featured in previous posts.

The main purpose of the trip was to see my "little" brother, who lives in Kununurra - waaaaaaaay Outback for my international readers. He lives in real crocodile country, enjoys the relaxed lifestyle and only comes south of the Tropic of Capricorn when he has to. He is "home" for a couple of days, in between a fishing trip to Tasmania and some business.

"Wattle Creek" was looking its usual lovely self.

Worth the trip, just to see green grass!!!

Then a quick trip back home for a real dinkum Aussie meal - yep, prawns on the barbie!

BTW I was listening to the radio in the car on the way up there and found out the real story behind our Australian war-cry "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ........ oi oi oi!"



It comes from Cornish tin miners via a soccer chant. Apparently, Cornish pasties are called "Oggies". In the olden days, the miners' wives would cook oggies for their men for lunch and take them to the mine at lunchtime, they would stand at the top of the mine and call "Oggie, oggie oggie" to which the men would reply "Oi, oi, oi" to signify that they had heard and would be sending the bucket up for the food. It was then adopted as a chant for soccer, and we pinched it and changed it to "Aussie, Aussie Aussie"

So, there you go - a new fact to drop into your next dinner party conversation.

More "Wattle Creek" images

A few more snaps .....

This is the apple walk - heritage apples - goes down to the creek.

My favorite, a banksia.

and a glorious King Protea.

"Wattle Creek"

I was brought up in a small country town, the daughter of a sawmiller, but Dad had a farm as well. He used to have an excavating business and often did some work on "Wattle Creek",a property near the Murray River, and promised himself that one day he would buy it. "One day" came, and he achieved that goal, but we never lived there. A manager was employed to look after the property and it was run as a beef property.



Then, about 14 years ago, and after a few health scares, Dad decided to retire to the farm. Most people go to something smaller in retirement, Dad went from a quarter acre block to 1000 acres and promised Mum she could have the garden she had always dreamed of.



The original homestead was demolished and a new house built in its place - some of the original trees were kept, and a 5 acre garden was designed.....



Here are a few photos ....

A view of the house and part of the lawn. Note the world's tidiest palm tree - Dad invented a cutter tool to dispose of the untidy dead fronds.

Mum's pride and joy - a Cape Chestnut tree.

My sister lives nearby, so sometimes she and her girls ride over - they come through the deciduous forest and over the bridge Dad built. "Wattle Creek" runs through the garden. There is a hitching rail at the front of the house for the horses.



The formal rose garden - Mum's "sewing room" is the entire second storey of the house - the views from her sewing room's windows are beautiful.

And this is the "Folly" - where we have family Bar-b-ques. They wanted a run-down cottage - "the only time any bricklayer I ever employed built a perfectly straight wall, this time I wanted a crooked one" was the comment.

We love going up there and enjoying the garden, they used to open it for charity so we would all be called on to go and help with manning gates or making cups of tea. That doesn't happen any more, though they are always happy to share. If you are really lucky Dad will turn on the music - he has the whole garden "wired for sound" and it is a magical experience to wander around with the gentle sound of classical music with a glass of wine in your hand in the evening.



As time goes on I will add other photos - 5 acres is a bit to cover in one hit.