Millthorpe Garden Ramble

Mr L’Orange and I headed to this annual event on Saturday with the idea of getting some garden ideas and inspiration, plus checking out some impressive houses and designer gardens at the same time. The concept is that you pay $15 to see 10 open gardens dotted around Millthorpe (you definitely need a car) as many of the gardens are quite spread out) or you can spend $5 per garden. The entire event is organised and run by volunteers and all the proceeds go back into improving Millthorpe village.

Millthorpe School - the prettiest school in the country?

We trotted off to our first garden in Millthorpe itself, which appeared to be a bloke trying to sell his potted fuchsias more than an inspiring garden. Things improved once we hit the road and got to some of the larger out of town gardens which were clearly a labour of love. Many of the gardens had stunning sculptures, established tress, beautiful views, great entertaining areas and unusual plantings.

There were refreshments sold at many of the gardens, however we broke for afternoon tea at the Old Mill Cafe, which was absolutely humming. We very easily got a table outside and I relaxed with the paper whilst Mr L’Orange dozed in his chair (recovering from his late night on Friday!).

Our tea, cake and chocolate malt shake came nice and quickly – this place certainly knows about service. My flourless orange cake was divine, especially delicious was the maple syrup icing with little rose bits scattered on top. I am generally not a big icing fan, however the maple syrup and orange combination worked so well that I managed to eat pretty much the whole thing whilst Mr L’Orange being a true gentleman, had a small mouthful as he could tell I was enjoying it so much.

The earl grey tea came in a pretty trendy pot and the chocolate shake was very good, especially as it was so a scorcher of a day.

Top marks to the Millthorpe Garden Ramble, we had a really good day out and hopefully lots of money was raised for the selected charities and Millthorpe Village. We saw a few people on bikes and thought that would be an excellent idea for next year, to pick gardens closer together so people can cycle in between.

Our favourite garden was 'Vermont' on Tallwood Rd, where the house had been built from bluestone in 1922 and was heritage listed. Everything about the garden was very well done and the plants, trees and shrubs were very well established creating lovely shady spots for relaxing.