Community Contributed
Behind the Hedges 2013
Kete Horowhenua2020-03-23T16:47:20+00:00Date | Sunday 17 March 2013 |
Location | Gardens around Levin |
The breaking of the drought was celebrated with light rain a welcome relief to gardeners and farmers alike.
Behind the Hedges 2013 was fantastic - as you can see from the photos here:
Garden 1 - only 5 years of development:
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 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 4 - another new garden:
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 - Visitors enjoying garden |
Garden 5 - Pomegranate tree growing well |
Garden 5 fruit on Pomegranate tree |
Garden 5 - 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.
Garden 6 - Bracadale reflected in lake | Garden 6 Bracadale firewood stored by front door |
Garden 6 - Ohau River Cottage | 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.
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.
Back Yard wonders: Hokio Beach resident Murray Staples inspects the
Turrent house " on Sam and Te Aroha Jennings' Manakau property
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