Private village gardens open to visitors

Nostalgic: A featured four-acre property on Innes Lane has a family farm feel with original old stone walls. Photos: SUPPLIED

THE gates to private properties will be swung open this weekend, as Open Gardens Buninyong returns for 2022.

Five of the village’s house gardens, from historic to contemporary, will be open to visitors this Saturday, 29 and Sunday, 30 October, from 10am to 4pm.

Friends of Buninyong Botanic Gardens president Roger Permezel said the sites included are diverse, yet all respect and reflect the natural landscape, and local conditions.

“Since early settlement and the founding of the heritage-listed Buninyong Botanic Gardens in 1861, the township has established a long tradition of thoughtfully created and beautifully maintained gardens,” he said.

Based on Cathcart Street, one of the gardens includes landscaping of an unused reserve over the fence.

“Some have been blessed with rich volcanic soil, thanks to Mount Buninyong, and in contrast, others have first needed to tame their shallow, stony, compacted soil that would have tested the resolve of the hardiest of pioneers.

“All of the open gardens are a tribute to the creativity, personal dedication and boundless toil of their host owners.”

Visitors to all properties will get a taste of 1850s landscape design, see a native pocket park, a farm-style garden with Buninyong’s only remaining original rubble wall, terracing on a sloping block, and a peaceful retreat that celebrates water.

The Buninyong Village Spring Market will also take place on Sunday from 10am to 3pm at the town hall.

Collect a free gardens map at the Buninyong Visitor Information Centre in the old library, 408 Warrenheip Street. Entry to a single garden is $5, a three-garden bundle is $10, and five-garden $15. Children with adults enter free.

Pre book at bit.ly/3VMolup or purchase tickets at the gardens on the day. Visit opengardensbuninyong.org.au for more information.