Trevenna garden open to the public next weekend

October 08, 2007

The Vice-Chancellor and CEO of the University of New England, Professor Alan Pettigrew, and his wife Ann, invite you to the garden at Trevenna, the historic home that is the residence of the Vice-Chancellor of the University.

The Trevenna garden will be open to the public as part of Australia’s Open Garden Scheme on the weekend of 13-14 October. Visitors are encouraged to come and tour the garden, listen to a wide range of talented local musicians, and sample the food on offer. Proceeds from the $5 entry fee and food sales will go to charity. Children will be admitted free.

The House

Trevenna was designed and built in the 1890s by the Boston-trained 19th century architect John Horbury Hunt. The land had been purchased by Philip Wentworth Wright in 1885 with the intention of retiring to the home. He transferred the land to his wife, Eliza Jane, before he died in 1889. Mrs Wright died in 1909 at the age of 89 and Trevenna passed to her grandson William Plumpton Wilson, who was married to F.R. White’s daughter, Florence. F.R. White was the original owner of Booloominbah, which is another historic building at the University of New England also designed by John Horbury Hunt. The land on which Trevenna was built had originally been purchased from F.R. White by Joseph Pearce in 1882 and Joseph sold the land to Phillip Wright.

Florence Wilson died in 1960, bequeathing the land to the University of New England. The University Council resolved at its meeting on 14 August 1961 to use Trevenna as the residence of the Vice–Chancellor.

The Garden

Approached through a long avenue of pines, planes, cypress and horse chestnuts, the gardens are constructed on several levels. A sunken garden at the entrance, complete with stone sundial, offers a charming welcome. The sundial is surrounded by lavender and petunias, as are the border gardens, with camellias and box hedging beyond. On the other side of the entrance a series of hedges encloses a private lawn. Many of the trees, including horse chestnuts, pines and planes, date back to when the house was built.

The front garden slopes away into a series of ha-ha walls, and wide perennial borders lead the eye to the city of Armidale. These wide borders are planted with a variety of shrubs including camellias, rhododendrons, and a range of autumn flowering perennials. Ivy and grapevines ramble along the old stone walls around the garden.

At the rear of the house a wide sweep of lawn leads down to another sunken garden where a magnolia forms the centrepiece in a small oval bed planted with dry shade lovers. A shaded border with hellebores, windflowers and violets provides a soft, leafy barrier between the garden and the tennis court.

Throughout the garden an impressive rang of mature trees adds to the ambience and tranquillity of this beautiful garden.

Australia’s Open Garden Scheme

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Open Garden Scheme in Australia. The Scheme is a self-funding not-for-profit organisation, with proceeds being dedicated to community garden projects and other charities. Since 1987 $870,000 has been given to garden projects around Australia and more than $4,000,000 to worthwhile causes.

Proceeds from this year’s Trevenna open garden will go to The Smith Family’s Learning for Life program. Learning for Life provides direct financial assistance to disadvantaged school children in Australia for things like textbooks, school equipment and uniforms.

Morning and afternoon teas and lunches will be provided by the Bhutan School Residence Appeal. The proceeds will be used to build a teacher residence in a remote part of Bhutan. UNE and the Armidale community have many links with educators in Bhutan through the large number of Bhutanese students who study through, and visit, UNE each year.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 8, 2007 01:04 PM