Community Contributed

Behind the Hedges 2013

Kete Horowhenua2020-03-23T16:47:20+00:00
Te Takere's annual fundraiser event - Behind the Hedges - was another great day where 750 people enjoyed seeing country lifestyle gardens.
DateSunday 17 March 2013
LocationGardens around Levin

The breaking of the drought was celebrated with light rain a welcome relief to gardeners and farmers alike.

Behind the Hedges 2013

Behind the Hedges 2013 was fantastic - as you can see from the photos here:

Garden 1 - only 5 years of development:

Garden 1 Welcoming party at gate
Garden 1 - Welcoming Party at Gate
Garden 1 Trees down drive
Garden 1 - Trees down drive
Garden 1 Camel guarding house
Garden 1 - Camel guarding Entrance to the house
Garden 1 Front approach to house
Garden 1 - Front approach to house
Garden 1 Front Entrance
Garden 1 - Front of House
Garden 1 Side of house
Garden 1 - Side of House
Garden 1 back deck with planting
Garden 1 - Back Deck
Garden 1 water feature in back deck
Garden 1 - Water feature in Back Deck
Garden 1 trees planted on back lawn
Garden 1 - Trees on back lawn
Garden 1 view of vegetable garden from drive
Garden 1 - Vegetable Garden seen from Driveway
Garden 1 sculpture of man
Garden 1 - Sculpture of Man
Garden 1c Lady guards the entrance
Garden 1 - Sculpture of Lady at Entrance

Garden 2 - Blueberry Art:

The property includes 2 holiday apartments, an art gallery, printing press, coffee bar and shop selling blueberry products and items made by Maggie (an artist, hatter, typesetter and painter) and Joe (artist, typesetter and graphic designer).

Garden 2 - driveway
Garden 2 - Driveway
Garden 2 Blueberry Art B&B
Garden 2 - B&B
Garden 2 white alpaca face
Garden 2 - Alpaca
Garden 2 black alpaca face
Garden 2 - Alpaca
Garden 2 white alpaca Garden 2 - Alpaca Garden 2 - Alpacas
Garden 2 - Alpacas

Garden 2 Lead printing type
Garden 2 - Lead type


Garden 2 Printed Card

Garden 2 - Handprinted Card

Garden 2 original hats for sale
Garden 2 - Hats for sale
Garden 2 clothes for sale
Garden 2 - Clothes for sale
Garden 2 necklace clock for sale
Garden 2 - Necklace Clock
Garden 2 studs for sale
Garden 2 - Studs for sale
Garden 2 more hats for sale
Garden 2 - Hats for sale

Garden 2 - driveway
Garden 2 - Driveway


Garden 3 - all this in 9 years:


Garden 3 - all this in 9 years:

The villa with its French doors and wide veranda has been built out of demo materials to create a house that appears to have been there a 100 years. The rambling garden features perennials, roses, herbs and annuals near the house with maples, hostas and pond in the sheltered woodland. It's a garden of contrasts - full sun and wind swept areas feature colour while the sheltered dell shows trees and leaves of different shapes and textures. A large vege garden uses companion planting and cheeks complete the picture:

Garden 3 Geometric box hedge with palms and tussocks
Garden 3 - Geometric box bed
Garden 3 Front of House
Garden 3 - Front of House
Garden 3 Back of house with plant sale
Garden 3 - Back of house
Garden 3 Corner verandah of house
Garden 3 - Corner verandah
Garden 3 Terrace with outdoor table
Garden 3 - Corner Terrace
Garden 3 Corner of house with pots
Garden 3 - Corner with pots
Garden 3 Pale pink cosmos in flower
Garden 3 - Cosmos in flower
Garden 3 Dark pink cosmas in flower
Garden 3 - Dark pink cosmos in flower
Garden 3 West side of house
Garden 3 - West side of house
Garden 3 Approaching east side of house
Garden 3 - East Side of house
Garden 3 East side of house Garden 3 - East side of house Garden 3 Path down from lawn to gully
Garden 3 - Path leads off lawn
Garden 3 Border on east of lawn
Garden 3 - Bed on east of lawn
Garden 3 Path down from lawn to gully
Garden 3 - Path down to gully
Garden 3 Box beds on Northeast of house
Garden 3 - Box edging around tree
Garden 3 Boarder on east side of house
Garden 3 - Boarder on east side of house
Garden 3 Angels Garden 3 - A pair of Angels Garden 3 Seagulls
Garden 3 - Seagulls


Garden 4 - another new garden:

Garden 4 View from entrance
Garden 4 - View from entrance
Garden 4 Garden bed in front of house
Garden 4 - Garden bed in front of house
Garden 4 Garden beds on east of house
Garden 4 - Garden beds on east of house
Garden 4 Grove of Silver Birches by drive
Garden 4 - Grove of silver birches beside driveway
Garden 4 Red climbing rose on house
Garden 4 - Red climbing rose on corner of house
Garden 4 Stone edging around swimming pool
Garden 4 Stone walls behind garden on south of house
Garden 4 - Stone walls by deck

Garden 4 Stone edging around swimming pool
Garden 4 - Stone walls surround swimming pool
Garden 4 Pale pink flower
Garden 4 - pink flower
Garden 4 Stone wall around garden bed by deck
Garden 4 - Stone walls around garden bed by deck

Garden 4 Path through garden bed

Garden 4 - path leads off through garden bed

Garden 4 House with deck surrounded by raised beds
Garden 4 - View of house surrounded by raised beds

Garden 4 View of house from path
Garden 4 - View of house from path

Garden 4 Garden seat under pergola at end of garden
Garden 4 - Seat under pergola
Garden 4 Group of terracotta pots
Garden 4 - Terracotta pots
Garden 4 Fire Pit off deck
Garden 4 - Fire pit by deck
Garden 4 View from deck across lawn
Garden 4 - View from deck

Garden 5 - Lifestyle property of Margo Shaw and Warwick Davenport:

About 8 years ago, Margo & Warwick 'reclaimed' the land and built a house. The property is now home to dogs, calves, chooks, two scruffy donkeys and an aviary of Australian birds. A vege garden and eclectic selection of fruit trees are astonishingly abundant. Mainly native trees attract birds such as tui. An acre of asparagus remains among which run lambs in summer and autumn to keep the weeds down.

An additional highlight of this visit was Geoff Lewis and friends' music on the verandah - click here to see a wmv video of them playing or click here to see the same video converted to an MPEG file.

Garden 5 Musicians on deck
Garden 5 - Musicians on deck
Garden 5 Visitors enjoying the garden
Garden 5 - Visitors enjoying garden
Garden 5 Pomegranate tree with fruit
Garden 5 - Pomegranate tree growing well
Garden 5 Pomegranate fruit
Garden 5 fruit on Pomegranate tree
Garden 5 The donkeys
Garden 5 - Donkeys
Garden 5 Garden visitor with donkeys
Garden 5 - Donkeys with visitor


Garden 6 - Bracadale - I did not have time to make it to Bracadale - the 25ac property of Ainslie & Hamish McDonald on the north bank of the Ohau River.

But luckily I have some photos taken during the 2013 visit to show what I missed!

This property mixes original native bush with hazelnut and walnut groves. Cattle graze bare land and Araucana hens lay beautiful blue eggs.

The 1998 house surrounds a courtyard recently redesigned by award winning Landscape Architect Mark Newdick.

Naturalistic gardens enclose the pond and the vege garden is protected by hedges and a stone wall.

Ohau River Cottage is a popular weekend destination for visitors.

Reflection in Lake Garden 5
Garden 6 - Bracadale reflected in lake
Firewood storage by door in Garden 5
Garden 6 Bracadale firewood stored by front door
Ohau River Cottage in Garden 5
Garden 6 - Ohau River Cottage
Ponga reflection at Garden 5
Garden 6 - Ponga reflection at Bracadale

Garden 7 RiverHouse

... sits above the Makahika River at the base of the mighty Tararauas - home of Gill and John Olifent.


This 12ac property is in a forest area among deciduous trees.


Located 300m after the tarseal ends, RiverHouse makes you feel you've left urban life behind and the owners used the 100yr old cottage as a holiday retreat before leaving city life permanently 2 years ago.

They have extended the house to cater for an informal lifestyle and take advantage of the seasonal changing landscape of the Makahika.

Garden 7 Entrance with name
Garden 7 - RiverHouse entrance with name
Garden 7c Firewood ready for winter
Garden 7 - Firewood ready for winter
Garden7a Parking area by road
Garden 7 - Parking area by road
Garden 7 View from deck - poplar trees beside stream
Garden 7 View of poplar trees from the deck
Garden 7 2 metal urns lead to exit on deck
Garden 7 - Metal urns at end of deck
Garden 7 Old cottage end of house
Garden 7 - Old cottage end of house


Garden 7 View down to Makahika Stream
Garden 7 - View down to Makahika Stream
Garden 7h View in to original part of house
Garden 7 - View into original part of house
Garden 7i View along deck to back lawn
Garden 7 - View towards back lawn
Garden 7 New section of house
Garden 7 - New section of house
Garden 7 View of Makahika Stream from the deck
Garden 7 - View of Makahika Stream
Garden 7 Planting in front of deck
Garden 7 - Planting in front of deck

HOROWHENUA MAIL, MARCH 21, 2013
By KELVIN TEIXEIRA Trail raises $28,000.00

A sellout Behind the Hedges country lifestyle property trail in Horowhenua on Sunday raised about $28,000 for Te Takere.
Event spokeswoman Rose Boyle said all 750 tickets went - 400 to Horowhenua residents, 140 to people from Kapiti, 115 to Wel­lington residents, and the
rest to people from Whanganui, Mana-watu and Hawke's Bay.

Mrs Boyle said the $28,000 - to go towards Levin's new culture and community centre - was nearly double the $15,000 raised at last year's event attended
by 500 people.

"We're absolutely delighted. It has exceeded all expectations," she said.
"We weren't sure that going 50 per cent bigger would pay off, but it did and the popularity of the event continues to amaze us. We set out to inspire and surprise
and all feedback indicates we've been successful."

Mrs Boyle said having almost half the visitors come from outside the region was "particularly satis­fying, because we set out to both showcase and share the
wonderful country lifestyle the Horowhenua region offers".

"The biggest boost was the number of people saying 'see you again next year'."
She said feedback included that the event was well organised and friendly, as well as comments from people who did not realise Horowhenua had "these sorts of
places".
Hokio Beach resident Murray Staples said the event was a good showcase of the lifestyle opportu­nities in Horowhenua.
"It is absolutely a good thing for the district and if it helps Te Takere it's even better."
Levin resident Angela Wheeler, formerly of Wellington, said the event was good for ideas, inspiration and meeting like minded people.
Mrs Boyle said they were gratful to the local sponsors and community groups that backed the event.

Turrent house at Sam & Te Aroha Jennings Property, Manakau
By Henry Phillips
Back Yard wonders: Hokio Beach resident Murray Staples inspects the
Turrent house " on Sam and Te Aroha Jennings' Manakau property