Ah. I have just discovered this post in my drafts box, all ready to go but never pressed the button. Not quite January any more, but hope you enjoy the pictures all the same...!
On a very hot January Saturday, we drove out to one of our favourite places: The Hunter Valley.
We have visited the area on numerous occasions, and always driven past, but never ventured in to, the Hunter Valley Gardens.
Nothing to do with wanting to get straight to the vineyards...
Visitors help to stop this, and actually make you take note of what is around and to stop putting it off for another day, so we finally turned off and visited the stunning gardens.
Nothing to do with wanting to get straight to the vineyards...
Visitors help to stop this, and actually make you take note of what is around and to stop putting it off for another day, so we finally turned off and visited the stunning gardens.
Even though it was the end of January, the Christmas decorations were still up. In my mind, the sight of Christmas trees whilst melting in the 36-degree heat just didn't compute.
Once I had got past that and instead turned my focus to the 60 acres of gardens, walking along the 8 km of paths, all thoughts quickly turned to admiring the various international gardens...
... which altogether housed 600,00 shrubs and 6,000 trees.
The area is divided into 10 different garden areas, each one so very different. From the flowerbeds bursting with multi coloured flowers...
...to the ordered shades of green...
...and various scents, such as in The Indian Mosaic Garden, which was planted with many curry plants which filled the air with their spicy aroma.
The gardens are extremely well thought out, with many viewing points in which one can sneak a peak and be met with a framed view:
The Topiary Brokenback Brumbies, pictured below, are an impressive sculpture, each one representing a year the gardens took to construct.
Housing over 150 different varieties of rose, The Rose Garden was truly magnificent, and not only beautiful...
...but fragrant too.
This was definitely my favourite garden.
This was definitely my favourite garden.
We took a couple of hours to walk around it all, but one could easily spend all afternoon meandering around the paths and discovering the hidden gems of the Hunter Valley Gardens.