It’s always a pleasure spending time in the Fairview garden, even if it’s just for maintenance.
Whether it’s clipping, weeding, mowing or mulching a small, dedicated team of volunteers keep the place looking it’s best. Smiling and having fun, even when they are hot and sweaty.
The garden is a place that seems to appreciate the work we do and almost breathe a sigh of pleasure when we’ve had a good working bee.
From the time Emily Pattemore started it, through the Howards and Armstrong era the garden has had its own personality and warmth. A balance of practicality and beauty.
Emily with her love of beautiful plants, especially violets, creating a welcoming space for her family to meet and share important events; through the Howards and Armstrongs raising families and using the garden as a fun play space. Always, through the decades, being part of the farm with vegetables and chickens supplying the home.
Today it has another incarnation, visitors sitting on the veranda sipping tea, as the Pattemores did daily, or walking through on their way along the Maleny trail. The house remains popular, but the garden is now attracting its own visitors and events. Hosting dignitaries, artists, astronomers and even weddings!
There’s work still to be done bringing elements of it back to life, such as the chook house and vege gardens.
Not just a pretty place, a practical and a peaceful one also.
I wonder what Emily would think of her special place now…….sometimes when we’re finished working there, I think I see a slightly broader smile on her portrait…..
