Stablehouse Garden
★★★★★
The garden lies less than five minutes from Masterton in the heart of the Wairarapa. The entrance is marked by large black pillars hinting at the house beyond. The approach is by a long 450m lime driveway lined on both sides by a thin pleached Poplar hedge. Arrival at the car park greets you with mature Pyrus Candelabra ornamental Pear trees to provide shade and the mature Buxus Sempervirens spirals beckon you through the black wall to the garden beyond.
The rill draws your eye to the dramatic all black timber Georgian inspired house which sits proudly amongst the impressive structural plantings. There are elegant allées of pleached limes, a phalange of marching pin oaks, junipers in soft, cloud-pruned mounds, an artfully designed parterre, immaculately clipped hedges of beech, hornbeam and the stunning aromatic shapes of a bay topiary ‘room’. The circular pond in the lower garden leads the eye to the wider landscape beyond. The garden’s composition is resplendent in straight lines, yet because the many ‘rooms’ of the garden are in perfect sinc, this element of balance and the layers of green provides serenity and calm.
Visit any time of year, each season has its rewards…in spring the blossoms on the Pyrus Candelabra are in full riot, in summer the buxus is rich and the palate of hydrangeas, iris, salvias and clematis is flamboyant, in autumn the avenues of quince, fig and pin oaks turn to gold, crimson and butter, and in winter the beech hedges glow like newly smelted bronze. However you’ll need to beware of the tiger in the fig walk even if he has been trained not to eat garden enthuiasts!
Lyn Eglinton is an award-winning doyen of New Zealand garden design. She has created many beautiful, often highly structured gardens around the country, and this one hectare, English-inspired garden is one of her most remarkable achievements.
Facilities and Amenities
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Plant sales
Tour guide available
Accommodation available
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Open between 10am – 4pm by appointment and during events as advertised on Facebook.
Tour groups and coaches welcome.
$20 per person.
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Follow the signs. Turn right on Watsons Road after passing Henley Lake. The 2nd on your right is Morris Road.
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Sarah Delmonte
39 Morris Road
RD 6 Masterton
Ph: 021 511223
stablehousedesignnz.co.nz