Sweeping STATEMENT
From its unlikely location in prime grazing land to its immense and immersive proportions, everything about Mayfield Garden is truly out of the ordinary.
With its hipped roof and wide verandah, the Hawkins’ six-bedroom home was inspired by Australian colonial-style Georgian architecture. In one direction it looks out to an ornamental pond, an 80m cascading waterfall and carpet-like lawns dotted with pencil pines. In the other direction is a mature Chinese elm ( Ulmus parvifolia) and a woodland planting of golden and English elms. Beyond the woodland are paddocks bordered by windbreaks of radiata pine.
Nothing can prepare the first-time visitor for the scale and spectacle of Mayfield Garden. “You need to set aside most of the day,” says its CEO, Hamish Keith. “This is not a garden you can rush.” It certainly isn’t. Spread over a site of 65ha, this is the largest privately owned garden in the Southern Hemisphere, so it takes time to traverse its grounds and digest the property’s story.
Located near the small town of Oberon, in the cool-climate Central Tablelands region of NSW (140km from Sydney), this is a garden of delights and surprises. There are arena-sized lawns bordered by pencil pines, intricate woodlands, a series of lakes and ponds, cascading waterfalls, a 600-seat terraced-lawn amphitheatre, a hedge maze, filigree-style topiary and networks of curvilinear granite-gravel pathways. It’s a project of such boldness and manicured perfection that it appears almost like a mirage amid the undulating grazing land around it.
Mayfield is the grand vision of Sydney-based businessman Garrick Hawkins, who bought the property in 1984, attracted to the pretty rolling countryside. He originally purchased 800ha but, as more surrounding land became available, he increased his investment in the area. The holding now covers more than 2000ha, on which he runs premium beef cattle and sheep.
In 1985, Garrick and his wife Evelyn, an artist and art historian, began building a residence on the property: an elegant, Georgianstyle home on a hill with 360-degree views of the landscape and a deep wraparound verandah. Initially, they’d planned for a 2ha garden around the home, but as the property grew, so too did their plans for the landscaping.
Inspired by their overseas travels, Garrick and Evelyn designed the garden along the lines of a European country estate. Starting with their own sketches, they turned to teams of local trades people and landscapers to carry out the earthworks and construction.
The garden now spreads out in all directions from the home, following the rise and fall of the land. There are terraced lawns, kilometres of clipped hedges, tree-lined avenues and thick copses of beech and maple. Added to this splendour is a charming array of follies, most notably the Chinese-style pagoda and redpainted bridge, built over a lake occupying the site of an existing dam. Garrick and Evelyn also designed a hedge maze – Australia’s second-largest – as well as a parterre garden, fruit orchard
WATER IS A RECURRING FEATURE :2.5 HA ARE DEDICATED TO THE WATER GARDEN, A SERIES OF PONDS FED BY BORE WATER.
and cut-flower garden of dahlias, zinnias, poppies and delphiniums. All these elements – referred to collectively as the Hawkins Family Garden – stretch over a staggering 50ha.
In 2008, the local Red Cross branch asked the family to open their garden for a fundraiser, with aims of raising $2000. People from all over the region flocked to view the much talked-about property:10,000filedthroughthegates,raisingtensofthousands for the charity. Garrick and Evelyn were inundated with letters urging them to open the garden on a regular basis. “The idea to create a public garden grew from there,” says Hamish.
In 2009, the couple started developing an additional 15ha dedicated to a public garden. Almost a decade on, Mayfield Garden has matured beautifully, offering year-round colour and many horticultural wonders. Water is a recurring feature: 2.5ha are dedicated to the Water Garden, a series of ponds fed by bore water, encompassed by groves of oak, copper beech and maple. A mid-storey of rhododendrons (40 different varieties ) explodes into flower in spring, along with thousands of flowering bulbs, peonies, hostas, lilacs and irises. Another showpiece is a waterfall that tumbles down a stone wall, modelled on the sandstone cliffs of local landmark Kanangra Walls.
Nearby is a 160m-long Hydrangea Walk, where raised garden beds formed from basalt rock are filled with thousands of plants showcasing 100 different cultivars. It’s a short stroll from here to the Valley of the Five Ponds, a woodland scheme of deciduous oaks, maples, birch and beech, with an understorey of shrubs including viburnum, Mollis azaleas and dogwoods.
Most recently opened is the Camellia Walk, a winter-flowering path weaving around more than 2ha of land. “Garrick and Evelyn want it to be one of the best seasonal gardens in the world,” says Hamish. “It changes throughout the year, and looks so different from season to season.”
At 1080m above sea level, Mayfield receives frosts and occasional snowfall in winter, with temperatures rising to the high 30s in summer. “Most of the trees and plants are European, so they’re suited to the climate,” says Hamish. “However, we are in Australia, experiencing the worst drought in 14 years, so the plants also have to be hardy survivors.” Senior garden supervisor Leon Howarth, who oversees a team of 24, says the garden has survived the extended dry with extensive mulching and efficient use of water.
Mayfield Garden opened to the public full-time in 2014 and now employs 60 people working across the garden and plant nurseryaswellastheproduce-stockedcafeandshop.TheHawkins family has spent tens of millions building this dream and legacy.
It’s impossible to talk about Mayfield without listing numbers and statistics, and Leon has an impressive figure of his own to add. “One of the guys on my team recently wore a pedometer and clocked up 20km in just one day,” he says. “You won’t find any overweight gardeners out here.” #
Mayfield Garden is open 363 days a year. The Hawkins Family Garden is open 16 days each season, including this year’s Spring Festival, October 13-28. Entry charges apply.
For more information, go to mayfieldgarden.com.au.
Hedges of English box ( Buxus sempervirens) and English lavender ( Lavandula angustifolia) snake all around the property. Beyond them, Leon has planted an avenue of hornbeam trees, which will eventually become a stilted hedge. He estimates the project will take 10 years. OPPOSITE A boardwalk winds through the Water Garden, an aquatic wonderland of water lilies, water irises, canna lilies, Moss White birch trees and weeping willows.