Image: Jo Saxon-Keith and Penny Wells admiring some of the rhododendrons on display at Crawleighwood Garden. 

Nestled in picturesque Nicholls Rivulet is over eight acres of garden, filled with unique forest and woodland species, maples, birches and deciduous trees and shrubs of beautiful colours. 

However, the history of Crawleighwood Garden is what makes the place worth a stroll, open to the public soon for its Garden Extravaganza. 

Originally purchased in 1988 by Penny Wells and Pav Ruzicka, the gardens began as 30 acres, with the pair constructing a barn across the road from their property before commencing construction on their home in the garden’s grounds and moving in on 2003. 

Planting for the garden commenced in 1990, matching closely with the house’s construction, beginning from rough pasture amongst blackberries, rocks and old car bodies. 

The original plants at Crawleighwood follow the fence line along the road between the top and bottom driveways on the property, working from the boundary lines of the property to the interior to get the gardens well-established and showcasing a timeline of the garden’s evolution.