This is it, folks. The die has been cast, the decision made. This is our last festival. I am referring to the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival that starts in under three weeks – on Friday 28 October.  This is likely to be your last chance to visit our garden.

Much and all as we love meeting you and seeing you enjoy our garden, we would rather go out on a high note than fade away. The garden is looking its very best – or it will be in another couple of weeks. This festival looks as though it will be a cracker event and that seems a good time for us to say farewell before we close the gates to visitors.

If you are one of the people who say, “I have been meaning to come for ages,” this is your last opportunity. We won’t stop gardening or sell up but we will be closed to the public from November 7 and we won’t be opening next year.

We are particularly keen that our music in the garden event on Sunday 30 October be a success. We can’t control the weather (and the music from La Mer is weather dependent) but we have everything else in hand. La Mer is a four-piece group playing a mix of gypsy swing and French chanson which blends delightfully with a garden setting. 

Not only is Rose from the Garden Cake Kitchen selling her dreamy cakes by the slice, but there is more.

Becky from Humble Grazing is offering pre-ordered platters for those of a more savoury persuasion. Becky can be contacted through her Facebook page, her website under the name of Humble Grazing or Instagram. If the weather forces a cancellation of the music and you have pre-ordered a platter, you can pick it up from here and take it back to your accommodation to consume. You are welcome to bring a bottle of wine to accompany your platter – or indeed bring your own picnic.

But we will also have the Etta Coffee Van on site selling both hot and cold drinks. These include iced coffee and chocolate (the day may even be hot!), smoothies and a range of organic teas, if coffee is not your favoured afternoon drink.

Seating is limited so maybe add a picnic blanket or folding chairs if you want to be seated. La Mer will be playing from 2.00pm onwards. Please come. There is no additional charge for the event – just the garden entry fee of $10. You are free to sit and enjoy the music or to wander the garden at your leisure. For those of us who are still Covid-anxious, we have plenty of space and being able to physically distance is not an issue.

Auckland botanical artist, Jennifer Duval-Smith is our artist in residence. Three of her four nature journaling workshops are already fully booked and there are just a few places left on her Tuesday 1 Nov workshop centred on the grandeur and glory of rhododendrons.

If you are interested in my garden tours on Friday 28 Oct, Tuesday 1 and Thursday 3 Nov, no bookings are needed. Just be here at 11am and we will be starting from the main lawn. These tours last between about 75 to 90 minutes but you don’t have to stay the whole distance. That said, Mark is in awe at my ability to enter the garden with a group and return later with pretty much the same number as I started.

And it will all end on November 6 when we close our gates (metaphorically speaking).

Farewell, poroporoaki, sayonara, adieu,

Abbie and Mark.