The pride of Panmure
Once almost lost to neglect, one of the state’s most intriguing and historically significant gardens is today thriving under the custodianship of its owners Brett and Sarah Matthews who are adding a new chapter to its 140-year story.
The trees are skeletal and the ground is cold and damp when SALIFE visits Stirling’s Panmure garden in late winter. Although it’s not the ideal time to experience the full potential of this historic 2.6-hectare garden that was first established way back in the 1870s, the season has imbued it with a poignant ethereal charm.
A deep valley gouges the centre of the property and splits it into two sloping hillsides – the southern crested by the two-storey home of Brett and Sarah Matthews and the northern slope reaching up to where the Mount Lofty train line follows right along their back fence, hidden behind a wall of poplars.
Sawdust paths lead away from the Matthews’ back door, snaking back and forth along vast drystone terraces and down to the valley floor. In the damp, shaded valley, the paths have been overtaken by a sea of moss, creating vibrant green thoroughfares that meander through woodlands and a fairy garden, past weathered grottos and ancient-looking statues.
Seemingly endless stone terraces have weathered more than a century of Adelaide Hills winters and summers.
Overshadowed by tree ferns, these romantic mossy paths are an exclusive feature of winter. Come summer, they will be gone.
That’s the thing about Panmure: each season carries its own beauty here, from the fiery foliage of autumn to the colours of spring – and this garden has seen its fair share of them.
Since moving to Panmure in 1999 to raise their four children – Eliza, Oscar, Lilli and Chloe – the Matthews have transformed the mid-century brick home into a two-storey family abode centred around a soaring central living area. In their children’s early years, the garden paths served as a wonderful adventure playground.
It’s hard to find a bad view from anywhere in the home, with large windows providing sweeping vistas across the valley to the swathe of poplars on the northern side. As a morning train passes by, fleeting glimpses of carriages flash behind the trees, and its haunting wail carries right across the valley.
Sarah grew up in the Hills and Brett, who co-owns several South Australian hotels including the nearby Stirling Hotel, comes from a line of publicans. About 25 years ago, the couple sought to move from Adelaide to Stirling, and were able to view Panmure off-market.
Moss-covered statues and a stone grotto give this garden an ancient ambiance.
Many species of plants provide a link to the garden’s former owner and Botanic Gardens board member Chris Laurie.
“I remember the first day we stood out on the lawn with the lovely owner, Vin Pearce, who took us through just before the property was going to the market, and we fell in love with it,” says Sarah.
“We asked how far down the garden goes, thinking it stopped at the bottom, and she said, ‘oh no, that’s all yours’. I grew up in the Hills, and I remember coming here, you could stand at the top, and from the road you could see the creek at the bottom. But now, all the trees have matured, and it’s a sea of green foliage.”
For decades, Panmure’s long-time gardener Michael Brew and his small team have kept everything in check, with Brett and Sarah’s busy lives running their hotel business and raising four children not leaving a lot of time for gardening.
Garden designer Virginia Kennett has been working with the owners to re-shape certain garden beds with her trademark Mediterranean plant selections.
“I don’t think at the beginning we really understood the level of maintenance required of the garden, but you wouldn’t have it any other way,” says Sarah.
“We wake up to views through the bedroom’s bay window and you just feel as though you’re in the garden. We do live busy lives, and with four kids it was always busy, but you just drive through those gates and it’s so peaceful. Every time I go for a walk, it inspires me to get out there gardening again. Simply being in the garden is healing.”
The couple is currently working with garden designer Virginia Kennett on the steep north-facing garden beds which are being re-planted with Virginia’s signature selections of Mediterranean plants that will withstand the harsh location and steep gradient.
“We’re slowly working through the garden to redefine some of the areas. Virginia’s input is invaluable and she’s always looking at sustainable options for the environment and climate,” says Sarah.
The couple’s appreciation for Hills gardens has grown over the past two decades. So much so, that they’ve acquired a second even larger Hills garden at Upper Sturt, called Manoah. Their focus there has been renovating two cottages and restoring the garden, again with the help of Virginia.
Panmure’s stone gate pillars.
Moss-covered steps lead further into the historic grounds.
Panmure’s fascinating history dates to around 1880 when Salvator Rosa Wakefield, an Elders auctioneer and land valuer, created a much larger property called Berkeley Vale. Then, during the 1890s recession when the railway’s stonemasons lost their jobs, it is said that Salvator hired them to construct the garden’s many winding dry-stone terraces, walls and stairways.
The property’s rail history becomes obvious as you cross creek bridges made of ancient sleepers and large plates of steel, connecting the extensive network of paths. But the property fell into disrepair in the 1930s up until the ’70s when it was purchased and resurrected by Dr Chris Laurie.
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An Adelaide Botanic Garden board member with a passion for gardens, Chris slowly worked to resurrect the garden from an overgrowth of blackberries and self-seeding maples. Chris subdivided the original property, Berkeley Vale, to create Panmure. He used the location of Berkeley Vale’s tennis court to build the home which the Matthews have modernised and live in today.
At the front of the property, this grand oak tree extends its giant limbs that almost seem to defy gravity.
Panmure’s botanic gardens pedigree is evident with its woodlands and choice of plant species such as a bed of the prehistoric giant-leaved Gunnera.
Other notable species include a handkerchief tree or dove tree (Davidia involucrata) which produces a swathe of large white bracts which look just like handkerchiefs or doves sitting in the branches. The rambling paths lead past tulip trees, a large magnolia grandiflora, irises, hellebores and lillies.
The grandest trees – believed to be original plantings – include the Atlas cedar, English oak and the flowering dogwood, among others. The garden is also peppered with beeches, tulip trees and forest pansies. A ‘Serpentine Garden’ comes alive with the colours of rhododendrons when in bloom, and another section of the garden swims in hydrangeas.
It’s said that stonemasons who were laid off during the late-1800s recession were employed to build Panmure’s many drystone paths and walls.
In front of the home, a gigantic oak tree takes pride of place, reaching out with its colossal limbs for many metres. To the rear is a row of soaring cypress trees that have giant trunks which serve as a constant reminder of the age and history of this property.
Sarah says the cypress pines are now a key feature of the garden, despite being a pest species. “They’re such a statement of Panmure now, but if Chris Laurie had his way, I imagine he would take them out to let more light in and open up more views of the gardens,” she says.
“It definitely has the feel of a botanic garden. Chris was a passionate gardener who planted lots of rhododendrons and azaleas, and we’ve still got quite a few, but not the masses that he had. They are just incredible when in bloom. There’s a hydrangea garden down the bottom and he planted lots of beautiful magnolias.”
The garden comes alive with colour in spring.
While Brett and Sarah are modest about the impact they’ve had on the garden, they certainly have added their own personality as the property has continued to mature over the past 25 years, while keeping to Chris’ original vision.
There is a romantic notion in the thought of owning such a grand garden, but the reality is the tedious and painstaking jobs to keep everything in check – or risk losing this rambling garden to introduced weeds and trees as happened in the 1800s.
Most importantly, through the perseverance of Panmure’s stalwart gardener Michael, Brett and Sarah have nurtured a 140-year-old piece of South Australian history and shared it with the public through open gardens.
Panmure’s time-worn drystone walls and sawdust paths skirt terraced gardens which are carefully maintained by Michael Brew.
“When I do find time to work in the garden, I love it – it’s hard to pull yourself away. We never take it for granted,” says Sarah.
With its fairy garden and whimsical statues, the garden is a wonderland for young children.
The couple enjoys spending time in Sydney when they visit family, but Brett says returning to Stirling just makes them appreciate what they have even more.
“When you go away and come back, you realise it’s pretty special. I don’t know anywhere else in Australia where 20 minutes outside of a city you’d get gardens like we have in the Hills. Our interstate friends are always stunned,” says Brett. “We do feel that we are custodians; it’s a very special place.”
The article originally featured in the September 2024 SALIFE magazine.
