A functional, flower- filled, fruitful and family-friendly 18-acre farm garden.

After purchasing their 18acre farming property located 9km from Maitland in 2018, Linda and Hamish began by renovating the classic 1901 stone farmhouse before turning their attention to the 2 acres of neglected garden. Much of the overgrown vegetation was removed leaving several eucalypts, a big old jacaranda and a blank slate to begin their new garden.

A passion for gardening, plenty of hard work and five children later, The Garden at Balmae although still evolving, is now an established family garden with spacious lawns, flowers, a framework of hedges, shady trees, a thriving productive patch and a small picking garden.

A crop of brilliant yellow canola in the adjacent paddock is a colourful backdrop to the hedges of box and rosemary that define areas of garden and add touches of formality. Verbena, daisies, catmint, nasturtiums, blue borage, salvias, annuals and the vivid purple flowers of the hardenbergia that clambers over several arches are some of the spring flowering species that add pops of colour early in the season. Roses and later blooming perennials provide continuous flowers throughout the warmer months.

In the large kitchen garden, nine raised beds are filled with a variety of vegetables and in early spring, broccoli, peas, rhubarb, garlic, and silver beet are thriving. Fruit trees, some espaliered, include lemon, apricot, apple, peach and grape and five IBC wicking beds are planted with several varieties of berries. The picking garden brings colour and fragrance with sweet peas, statice and annuals, while roses extend the display from late spring to autumn. A pollinator corridor attracts beneficial insects, the three bin compost system provides plenty of organic matter and there are chook and duck houses as well as the children’s cubby house and sandpit.

PLEASE NOTE: 
This is a farm, so wear sensible shoes.
It's a 250m walk from parking; parking for disabled will be available