A few days ago I was having a pretty bad day so a friend of mine suggested we have a drive to Tanilba Bay to find the secret garden.
The secret garden is a community project by a group of residents at Tanilba.
All the houses in a particular street have houses that back onto a reserve owned by Port Stephens Council and a few years ago they asked if they could create a garden on the land and this is the result.
You walk down a pathway to the reserve and this is what you find. These photos don't really do it justice as the area is quite large and you can't see the scale from this collage, but it is so pretty in there.
There are benches and picnic tables where you can just sit and take in the atmosphere. Apparently people have been married in this garden too.
All the residents gardens back onto this reserve and they have gates from their gardens to the reserve for easy access as they work on the project.
It is such a lovely find and not many people know it even exists, which is why I suppose it is called The Secret Garden.
It really cheered up my not so good day. Luckily I don't have too many sad or bad days and it is lovely to have such a nice friend to cheer me up.
You may be able to see some of the homes in the background on a couple of the photos.
What a great idea and so nice that you could get access to view it and walk around. You got some super images. There is a garden like this in Rubislaw Den in Aberdeen where residents back onto it and have their own key for access - but it is not accessible to others. Far from it! Hope you are having better days at the moment. xx
What lovely friends you have Babs. This is such a great find and a lovely community project and so nice that the public can enjoy it as well as the residents.
I've come across a few of those secret garden on a much smaller scale. A walk in yours and maybe sit and rest for a bit was just the ticket as well as your nice friend. hope you feel a lot better now.
After we had visited the secret garden we drove to Lemon Tree Passage where we had a cuppa in a local café and I bought a dress in a boutique dress shop too, so it was a win win day all round.
I am feeling much better now, just had a bit of a wobbly week.
After we had visited the secret garden we drove to Lemon Tree Passage where we had a cuppa in a local café and I bought a dress in a boutique dress shop too, so it was a win win day all round.
So nice to have friends that care!