IT is easy, regardless of the season, to become immersed in the Bath House Garden at Oakhampton Heights.
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Formerly a horse paddock featuring a weed-infested pond, the property is now an event and photography venue and hosts monthly open garden days as well as private tours. It even starred - as a location - in last year's series of Farmer Wants a Wife.
Sue and Ben Bath developed the substantial garden in stages after they built their colonial-style home in 2002 on four acres in the rural Maitland suburb. Historic Walka Water Works is just down the road.
An unexpected request by a Probus Club to visit the early garden around the house sowed the seeds of expansion plans, but it took the couple until 2011 to commit to further improvements.
"We had put together some landscape design ideas and bounced our thoughts around our five, now-grown children for quite some time. I think they got a little bored of us just talking about it," Sue says.
"One day our son Aaron found us standing in the paddock discussing the possibilities again. He asked what we were waiting for, searched his phone for an excavator contact number and booked us in for that week. That was that . . . we had to get serious."
The garden's last section, which includes a lavender field, was completed in 2017.
Sue and Ben, who moved to Maitland from the Central Coast for work and space reasons, had built gardens for their previous three homes but nothing on this scale.
"Ben focused on the project and financial management side of our venture and my contribution was in designing and plant selection. Then we would come together to get dirty and make it all happen," Sue says.
"Whenever we came up against more technical aspects, such as major brickwork, we employed experts, and our three sons made invaluable contributions with electrical, carpentry, ironwork and stonework. At a family working bee, we built four dry stone walls in one day."
Sue, who has studied horticulture and floristry, says the result of the family's vision and hard work is a "semi-formal, country-style garden divided into several spaces, each connected to the next in some way".
"The garden is seasonal and so is constantly changing. Many of the trees are deciduous so autumn is really beautiful and then you have the winter jonquils and spring blossoms. There's a mix of clipped hedges, topiary, roses, citrus, lavender and camelia, along with more whimsical plantings of flowering perennials."
The Garden Room - with fireplace and French doors - was built to accommodate small functions. A courtyard and separate kitchen/bar complement this lovely building made from the same sandstock bricks as the main house.
The large, light-filled, elegantly furnished sunroom in the main house is offered to bridal parties as a dressing room.
Sue and Ben have also converted the rear of their cavernous garage into the Garden Villa, quality accommodation aimed at couples.
Sue says the most photographed parts of the garden are the elevated terrace with its vine-covered gazebo, the lavender field and the timber and iron bridge below the small vineyard.
The open days, held on the third Sunday of every month, appeal for a variety of reasons.
"Many visitors arrive with friends and picnic food while others come for inspiration, to just sit quietly or to try our treasure hunt challenge. Lately, visitors have enjoyed music by local saxophonist Jake Sietsma," Sue says.
Guests can also mingle with Ember the cow and the family's dozen chickens.
Sue and Ben love to share the Bath House Garden with others and work hard to keep it shipshape. Sue quips that the open days keep her weeding. The load grows when the elements flex their muscles, but Sue appreciates her workplace benefits.
"You're in the fresh air, getting exercise and making things beautiful. Everything around you appeals to the senses, helping you to recentre and feel alive. And you almost always sleep well."
She is using her experience to design gardens for others.
"It's very satisfying to imagine and plan something that will one day be fully experienced. To see it five or 10 years later is even more amazing," she smiles.
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