Picture leaving behind a garden you've nurtured for nearly fifty years. New Zealand gardener Carolyn Ferraby is doing just that, leaving a legacy of beauty and dedication.
An arch draped in wisteria and clematis is a romantic feature that beautifully frames and echoes the garden gate.
Carolyn Ferraby has forged a path to put garden tourism on the map for New Zealand. She gathered a group of like-minded gardeners to get ‘Garden Marlborough’ off the ground. Her large country garden, Barewood in the Awatere Valley, is one of New Zealand’s finest, and a huge attraction for Garden Marlborough. It’s been awarded the highest six-star rating by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. Now, as Garden Marlborough celebrates 31 years, Carolyn is moving on, leaving her beloved Barewood and resigning from the Garden Marlborough Festival team.
“It has been very difficult for me, but as someone once said to me, things are only loaned to you in your lifetime, and I have truly loved my time at Barewood,” says Carolyn Ferraby as she leaves her beloved garden that she and her husband Joe have made together over the last nearly fifty years. It’s a romantic, flower-filled garden with arbours, borders, and a potager, carefully designed to complement a beautiful country home.
“I have gardened at Barewood for fifty years and although it is horrible hard clay soil, I had youth on my side when I started as a newlywed. We have improved the soil so that I can now grow pretty much what I want.” Barewood was the name given to the farm which surrounds the house and garden, named by a previous owner after his property in Yorkshire England.
A large garden seat at the end of the crabapple walk is an inviting focal point.
It has been such a privilege to bring many travellers to visit you in your magical garden in the Marlborough region. I remember back in the early days of the Garden Marlborough Festival, how you counselled, cajoled, and mentored gardeners in this beautiful part of NZ to open their gardens for the event. What was your plan for Garden Marlborough?
When we started Garden Marlborough, the area was not known as a garden destination, and we set out to change this. A garden editor once told me that Garden Marlborough had raised the bar for gardens in Marlborough and I think that is right. It has been a joy and a privilege to watch it grow and I feel so proud to see the buzz around Blenheim each year.
You carved a most amazing garden out of a cow paddock. What was your inspiration?
I loved the Gertrude Jekyll quote, ‘a garden should curtsey to the house.’ I adored the 100-year-old homestead, so I started there, ensuring they complemented each other. Whenever I could persuade Joe to move a fence (he tells me I am going down the next fence post hole), I created more garden.
A white wisteria festoons the verandah.
You have made a garden of many rooms. Did you have a plan?
No plan; Barewood is an evolving garden. As I learnt more and became even more keen, and as I could persuade Joe to move a fence, the garden grew. I always felt it was important to transition seamlessly from one area to another and to create green spaces amongst all the flowering areas.
It’s a flower-filled garden. New Zealand’s cool, moist climate must have been a huge asset?
We live in a very hot dry area of the country but not as harsh as say Australia. I think training as a florist helped with flower and plant and colour combinations. To me it’s rather like creating a big floral arrangement.
A pair of summerhouses - with one forming the enterance to the other - were built by Carolyn's husband, Joe, and overlook the pond.
The hawthorne avenue makes for a seamless and serene transition to the summerhouses.
What was your inspiration for the potager?
I created the potager after visiting Rosemary Verey’s garden in England. It really was a labour of love laying it out and training the fruit trees and vegetables, we eat out of it all year.
The hawthorne avenue was designed to lead the eye down to the summerhouse and the Malus alley (crabapple walk) was designed to create a green walk leading out from the potager down to the large garden seat.
Carolyn Ferraby amongst the roses in her garden.
And now, you have decided to leave. How difficult was this decision?
It has been very difficult for me, but as someone once said to me, things are only loaned to you in your lifetime, and I have truly loved my time at Barewood. I look forward to handing the garden on to someone young, with the energy and enthusiasm that I had fifty years ago, who will put their stamp on it.
What is your next adventure?
We are so lucky that we have a section in Blenheim with a beautiful stream boundary and some mature trees, so I am away to a great start. And yes, I cannot wait to start another garden, one which will be very different to Barewood, which makes me feel very excited indeed.
Come with us
New Zealand’s gardens are amongst the best anywhere on earth. Throw in a warm Kiwi welcome, Marlborough and Hurunui gardens, and we have the perfect excuse to visit this beautiful region of the South Island. Join us on the Spring Gardens in New Zealand: Marlborough and Hurunui Gardens tour, 29 October–8 November 2024. For more information, call 1300 233 200 or visit
www.rosstours.com.
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