Leura Gardens Festival

THE BRAES, 64 Grose Street, Leura

Garden courtesy of Margot and John Egan

With views to the Southern Highlands, the Braes Heritage Garden Estate is adjacent to the Blue Mountains World Heritage National Park and lies between an urban and a semi-rural environment.  The Braes’ original land grants were allocated in 1882.Over the period from 1907 to 1914 it was used primarily as a dairy and poultry farm and market garden for the former Chateau Napier Guest House in Leura which, sadly, was lost in the December 1957 bushfire.

Over the period from 1907 to 1914 it was used primarily as a dairy farm, a poultry farm and a market garden for the former Chateau Napier Guest House in Leura which, sadly, was lost in the December 1957 bushfire. The McSweeney family owned the property until 1943 when it was sold to Dr Geoffrey Hagarty who commissioned Paul Sorensen to provide landscaping and planting services.

A number of the team who worked at Everglades in the 1930s for Henri Van de Velde worked at The Braes in building the drystone walls immediately adjacent to the knoll and to the west of the Gordon Creek. There were several owners of The Braes from mid-1956 until April 1996 at which time the property was acquired by John and Margot Egan.During the 1990s a number of constraints were imposed on the owners arising from the property’s local heritage classification. Working with state and local authorities, approval was granted for the significant restoration of the site and establishment of a garden with many prominent cool climate botanic elements referenced to the early work of Sorensen.

The restoration project included the building of bridges, the retaining of creek banks, and the establishment of a comprehensive conservation management plan, updated annually to ensure the preservation of the primary heritage attributes of the garden. Over the last 24 years John and Margot have overseen the site’s remediation, including the removal of significant stands of radiata pine with many other predatory and unwelcome plants and the management and mitigation of the site’s flooding. Once the site had been substantially cleared, terracing of the site commenced to match the knoll and 1940s’ landscape development. Advice was then sought for the selection and layout of planting which is in evidence today. The garden offers an extensive display of trees and shrubs some approaching 100 years old and a rich diversity of perennials and annuals.

A rose garden has been established on the eastern terraces together with an orchard with over 20 varieties of fruit and nut trees and several hundred bulbs. The propagation facility, established in the northeastern corner of the property, produces well over 5,000 plants from cuttings and seeds each year which are continually added to the garden environment. Head gardeners have been supported by many capable garden labourers, stonemasons and horticulturalists, guided by landscape architects and other plant specialists without whose contribution we would not have made the progress we have to date. Directions to The Braes