By Irene Ingold
Approaching Wilmont, once home to the mountain’s first post office, its quiet, welcoming calm belies the purposeful industry behind the owners’ deliberately crafted lifestyle.
The Jones family have called Wilmont home for fourteen years, with three generations -Nev and Corrine, their children, and Nev’s mother May – living here.
Wilmont is where the family works, plays and relaxes.
For the first time, they are opening their two-acre property and sharing their way of life with visitors to this year’s Springtime on the Mountain Open Gardens Trail.
Wilmont’s gardens are a blend of remnant rainforest, natives, ornamentals and productive plantings.
Theirs is very much a garden-to-kitchen-table philosophy: everything is grown with purpose and used-on the plate, in a glass, fed to the chooks and Toulouse goose, or returned to the garden.
Hops becomes home brew; apples and flat-bottom peaches make cider; honey into mead; and elderflower for wine.
Garlic is one of Nev’s favourite crops.
When the abundant beds are harvested, a quarter is saved for replanting, while the rest is roasted, smoked, dried, and some made into garlic salts.
Three varieties of potatoes grow near bountiful beds of strawberries, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, onions, leeks and leafy greens.
In newer beds, privet sticks form a teepee trellis and garden borders.
May’s colourful roses, dianthus, lavender, petunias and echinacea attract bees, boosting pollination and food yields.
This is an interesting property where there is always something happening. Corrine has built a beautiful studio.
The old dairy is now a black smithing shed. Nev will be running a woodworking workshop.
Wilmont is steeped in our European settlement history. Its owners honour its legacy with their community spirit.
Located near the front gate, the handsomely crafted produce cupboard, built to share the garden’s surplus with passers-by, demonstrates this spirit.
Embrace the privilege of visiting all six private gardens on this year’s Springtime on the Mountain trail.
Each of the garden owners has created a deeply personal haven, generously opening their gardens for others to enjoy.
Be curious- the opportunity to experience these gardens may not come again.
For further information go to www.tamborinemountaingardenclub.org.au.
