Beds and Beds of Roses!
I took a guided tour of the main house at Woolmers near Longford today and wondered, as I often do when I'm there, what those Archer ladies of long ago would make of things now? Clearly they would easily recognise the interior of the house because almost nothing there has changed - it's still just as it was - a microcosm of a bygone age.
Marjorie, who presided over the homestead in the 1930s and who was the last lady-of-long-ago to change anything, would most certainly have loved theNational Rose Garden, because roses were so obviously her passion. Indeed Marjorie managed to put roses on almost everything she touched. She introduced decorative roses (mostly in shades of pink) onto curtains, cushions and onto beds - the valances; the bedspreads, the pillows. Beds of roses were her thing!
Roses are to be found lurking on carpets and on china. This was not mere decorating, but serious decorating - with roses! And our long-ago Marjorie was able to indulge herself becase we know there was plenty of money at the time - it was the heyday of the wool industry and Woolmers did very indeed.
Fortunately, perhaps, there is much about the house that's clearly very masculine so she didn't manage to convert everything to her passion for decorating. And it's also probably fortunate for us that she didn't manage to change so very much, though she certainly put her stamp on some of the decor.
Fast-forwarding to the present day, and I notice that visitors were everywhere, and a large bus was bringing even more. And the National Rose Garden was looking absolutely wonderful. Every bit as wonderful as those long-ago ladies at Woolmers could possibly have wished for!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A CELEBRATION AT WOOLMERS
Several thousand people flocked to Woolmers Estate, near Longford, last Sunday to help celebrate the first opening of the Estate fifteen years ago.
Bands played; clowns clowned and sheep were shorn. Spinners spun the wool, followed in production line, by knitters knitting the same wool just spun.
Sausages sizzled and and cider and wine was tasted and savoured. I tasted a range of different (and delicious) ciders from Dickens Cider at Hillwood in the Tamar Valley.
The ABC broadcast interviews live from the venue and certainly added greatly to the success of the event.
Tours of the main house were (as always) popular and Woolmers had their very own antiques roadshow with Kay Pickett to help anyone identify and value their treasures.
The National Rose Garden was especially popular because it is looking simply stunning right now and in full glorious bloom. Tours of the gardens were conducted and Les Hodge, The Examiner's Garden Expert was there to answer questions and chat to gardeners.
The day could hardly have been more perfect - warm, but not too hot and just the slightest of breezes. It's an absolute knockout year for gardens and it was great to see the gardens filled with such appreciative crowds.
A primary school choir from Longford sang sweetly on the steps of the old Woolshed - appropriately their first song was 'Click go the Shears' and there was even a big birthday cake which was ceremonially cut and handed round for everyone to taste.
Period costume had been requested and there were some wonderful examples, which gave a lovely authentic touch to the proceedings, and a rally of vintage cars, all in a row and all splendidly polished, added interest and colour to a wonderfully relaxing day.
"A big vote of thanks is due to those many volunteers who worked so hard to make this occassion such a resounding success" said Damian Saunders, who is the CEO at Woolmers. "A great day was had by all!"
Bands played; clowns clowned and sheep were shorn. Spinners spun the wool, followed in production line, by knitters knitting the same wool just spun.
Sausages sizzled and and cider and wine was tasted and savoured. I tasted a range of different (and delicious) ciders from Dickens Cider at Hillwood in the Tamar Valley.
The ABC broadcast interviews live from the venue and certainly added greatly to the success of the event.
Tours of the main house were (as always) popular and Woolmers had their very own antiques roadshow with Kay Pickett to help anyone identify and value their treasures.
The National Rose Garden was especially popular because it is looking simply stunning right now and in full glorious bloom. Tours of the gardens were conducted and Les Hodge, The Examiner's Garden Expert was there to answer questions and chat to gardeners.
The day could hardly have been more perfect - warm, but not too hot and just the slightest of breezes. It's an absolute knockout year for gardens and it was great to see the gardens filled with such appreciative crowds.
A primary school choir from Longford sang sweetly on the steps of the old Woolshed - appropriately their first song was 'Click go the Shears' and there was even a big birthday cake which was ceremonially cut and handed round for everyone to taste.
Period costume had been requested and there were some wonderful examples, which gave a lovely authentic touch to the proceedings, and a rally of vintage cars, all in a row and all splendidly polished, added interest and colour to a wonderfully relaxing day.
"A big vote of thanks is due to those many volunteers who worked so hard to make this occassion such a resounding success" said Damian Saunders, who is the CEO at Woolmers. "A great day was had by all!"
Friday, November 19, 2010
VISITING THE VEGGIE GARDEN AT WOOLMERS
Imagine a neat formal garden with a diminutive fountain at its very centre; this has two little bronze birds appearing to be permanently drinking in its reflective pool. And the fountain is flanked by four standard mandarin trees, all bearing fruit right now, with low hedges of vivid lavender forming an outer circle.
Then, spreading out from that central circle, are neat beds planted with rows of onions, chives and garlic in one direction and broad beans and celery in another. Neat pyramids support several varieties of beans, and tomatoes and cauliflower are promising a bumper crop. Pumpkins are just starting to send out their runners and will very soon bloom.
There's a large bed of rhubarb ready to be picked and a bed of lettuce of alternating colours and varieties has been planted to form a decorative square.
An enclosed raspberry cage promises a crop of fruit which is destined for jam making to accompany the Servant's Kitchen speciality of scones with cream. (Don't miss this treat!)
Along one side of the garden are espaliered apple trees, planted as a reminder that there were once orchards of cider apples at Woolmers. And everything grown in this garden eventually finds its way into the Servant's Kitchen Cafe.
Separating all the vegetables from the National Rose Garden is a long row of ornamental cherry trees. And beyond that the roses in their thousands are all bursting into glorious bloom and wafting their delicious perfume over everything.
I love to visit the ever-changing veggie garden at Woolmers and I know many visitors enjoy the notice warning them to keep the gate closed so as to prevent Peter Rabbit from getting in!
Check out the website at www.woolmers.com.au
Then, spreading out from that central circle, are neat beds planted with rows of onions, chives and garlic in one direction and broad beans and celery in another. Neat pyramids support several varieties of beans, and tomatoes and cauliflower are promising a bumper crop. Pumpkins are just starting to send out their runners and will very soon bloom.
There's a large bed of rhubarb ready to be picked and a bed of lettuce of alternating colours and varieties has been planted to form a decorative square.
An enclosed raspberry cage promises a crop of fruit which is destined for jam making to accompany the Servant's Kitchen speciality of scones with cream. (Don't miss this treat!)
Along one side of the garden are espaliered apple trees, planted as a reminder that there were once orchards of cider apples at Woolmers. And everything grown in this garden eventually finds its way into the Servant's Kitchen Cafe.
Separating all the vegetables from the National Rose Garden is a long row of ornamental cherry trees. And beyond that the roses in their thousands are all bursting into glorious bloom and wafting their delicious perfume over everything.
I love to visit the ever-changing veggie garden at Woolmers and I know many visitors enjoy the notice warning them to keep the gate closed so as to prevent Peter Rabbit from getting in!
Check out the website at www.woolmers.com.au
Monday, October 25, 2010
A note for your diary
A note for your diary (volunteers needed!)
Make a note for your diary for Sunday 21st November if you're anywhere near Longford. There's to be a special celebratory Birthday Party at Woolmers and that's when we also need volunteers - to help with the parking of visitors in the paddock behind the woolshed and to the main gate to collect the gold coin entry fees. The special day (intended to celebrate the creation of Woolmers Foundation) will be a great day of entertainment, heritage displays and a relaxing and enjoyable day for all the family.
Highlights will include a major historic wool display including traditional blade shearing; spinning and knitting displays, which include a "Learn to Knit" session for kids of all ages; lots of bands and a lively performance by the Longford Morris Dancers.
At 12.30 there will be a performance by the Longford Primary School Choir and the birthday cake will be cut and a taste handed around.
Everyone is invited to come and help us celebrate a fun day for young and old - soak up the atmosphere in the grounds of this great World Heritage listed Estate and, if you like, bring a picnic or enjoy some of the food on sale over a glass of great wine - Tasmanian of course!
There will be tours of the main house (not to be missed) and the outbuildings, as well as the National Rose Garden, which will be in full glorious bloom. A display of vintage cars and motorcycles - with owners ready and willing to chat - and a display of Red Cross memorabilia - these are just a sample of the fascinating things to see and do.
Entry will be by a donation of a gold coin for adults, but children and adults dressed in period costume will be given free entry - and we hope many will take the trouble to dress up for the occassion.
Come one and all! Help us celebrate our birthday on 21st November!
And if you can volunteer to help in any way please contact the office at Woolmers on 6391 2230 or enquiries@woolmers.com.au
See you there!
Make a note for your diary for Sunday 21st November if you're anywhere near Longford. There's to be a special celebratory Birthday Party at Woolmers and that's when we also need volunteers - to help with the parking of visitors in the paddock behind the woolshed and to the main gate to collect the gold coin entry fees. The special day (intended to celebrate the creation of Woolmers Foundation) will be a great day of entertainment, heritage displays and a relaxing and enjoyable day for all the family.
Highlights will include a major historic wool display including traditional blade shearing; spinning and knitting displays, which include a "Learn to Knit" session for kids of all ages; lots of bands and a lively performance by the Longford Morris Dancers.
At 12.30 there will be a performance by the Longford Primary School Choir and the birthday cake will be cut and a taste handed around.
Everyone is invited to come and help us celebrate a fun day for young and old - soak up the atmosphere in the grounds of this great World Heritage listed Estate and, if you like, bring a picnic or enjoy some of the food on sale over a glass of great wine - Tasmanian of course!
There will be tours of the main house (not to be missed) and the outbuildings, as well as the National Rose Garden, which will be in full glorious bloom. A display of vintage cars and motorcycles - with owners ready and willing to chat - and a display of Red Cross memorabilia - these are just a sample of the fascinating things to see and do.
Entry will be by a donation of a gold coin for adults, but children and adults dressed in period costume will be given free entry - and we hope many will take the trouble to dress up for the occassion.
Come one and all! Help us celebrate our birthday on 21st November!
And if you can volunteer to help in any way please contact the office at Woolmers on 6391 2230 or enquiries@woolmers.com.au
See you there!
VOLUNTEERS - Woolmers needs you!
Do you have one or two hours a week (or perhaps even more) to help out at the National Rose Garden at Woolmers? Actually the Rose Garden at Woolmers needs volunteers to dead-head roses from mid-November until the end of summer (we prefer to call it summer pruning)! This is a lovely way to fill in a few summer-time hours - surrounded as you are by the sight and the heavenly perfume of so many millions of blooms.
Many, many words have been written about volunteering and I know from my own experience how enjoyable and sociable being a volunteer can be. I'm a volunteer at the National Rose Garden at Woolmers and also at Woolmers Estate, and less frequently, at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston. The hours I spend doing a range of tasks, some more demanding than others, are enormously rewarding and have led me into a much wider social circle than I would otherwise have enjoyed.
There's also a small band of dedicated volunteers who help Gwen (the chief gardener) in the formal walled garden and there are others who help with guiding the public through the main house.
Many community organisations would simply not be able to function or even to survive were it not for the many hours donated by volunteers. Fortunately, volunteering is alive and well in Tasmania!
In fact, whatever your particular talent, even if it is riding a lawn-mower, if you have a few regular hours to spare, it's probable Woolmers would welcome your help - why not just ask!
Call Damian on 6301 2230 or email enquiries@woolmers.com.au
Many, many words have been written about volunteering and I know from my own experience how enjoyable and sociable being a volunteer can be. I'm a volunteer at the National Rose Garden at Woolmers and also at Woolmers Estate, and less frequently, at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston. The hours I spend doing a range of tasks, some more demanding than others, are enormously rewarding and have led me into a much wider social circle than I would otherwise have enjoyed.
There's also a small band of dedicated volunteers who help Gwen (the chief gardener) in the formal walled garden and there are others who help with guiding the public through the main house.
Many community organisations would simply not be able to function or even to survive were it not for the many hours donated by volunteers. Fortunately, volunteering is alive and well in Tasmania!
In fact, whatever your particular talent, even if it is riding a lawn-mower, if you have a few regular hours to spare, it's probable Woolmers would welcome your help - why not just ask!
Call Damian on 6301 2230 or email enquiries@woolmers.com.au
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The Smoker's Hut
Little paths wind hither and thither almost aimlessely, enabling you to explore the charming old, formal gardens at Woolmers. Nestled in this beautiful walled precinct you'll come accross a strange little turret-like building - this is the Smoker's Hut.
It's a small building which was created specifically so that a Victorian gentleman or two, or even perhaps three, could retire there to smoke. And they did this presumably while their ladies were playing croquet on the lawn at the side of the house, shaded by a truly ancient mulberry tree. I can just imagine their long flowing gowns and picture hats.
One assumes too that the said gentleman would have smoked a pipe or a cigar since there's now quite a collection of pipes in the house and cigarettes were only invented at a much later date. The building was presumably conceived so that gentlemen would go out there in the garden to smoke instead of leaving the scent of smoke in the indoor furnishings.
This little building is quite picturesque and puts one in mind of a miniature castle - there's even a flag post on one side. I almost imagine a flag being run up when the gents were out there in residence!
The formal gardens surrounding our eccentric little building are looking simply stunning right now and are well worth a visit - small wonder that this is a present day favourite spot for weddings.
Clematis is in bloom over an arbour and wisteria climbs colourully along the verandas of the main house - and by the way, the personalised tour of the house is something not to be missed!
And while you're there do take a walk through the National Rose Garden at Woolmers which is at its peak from the end of October right through summer until the first frosts ...
It's a small building which was created specifically so that a Victorian gentleman or two, or even perhaps three, could retire there to smoke. And they did this presumably while their ladies were playing croquet on the lawn at the side of the house, shaded by a truly ancient mulberry tree. I can just imagine their long flowing gowns and picture hats.
One assumes too that the said gentleman would have smoked a pipe or a cigar since there's now quite a collection of pipes in the house and cigarettes were only invented at a much later date. The building was presumably conceived so that gentlemen would go out there in the garden to smoke instead of leaving the scent of smoke in the indoor furnishings.
This little building is quite picturesque and puts one in mind of a miniature castle - there's even a flag post on one side. I almost imagine a flag being run up when the gents were out there in residence!
The formal gardens surrounding our eccentric little building are looking simply stunning right now and are well worth a visit - small wonder that this is a present day favourite spot for weddings.
Clematis is in bloom over an arbour and wisteria climbs colourully along the verandas of the main house - and by the way, the personalised tour of the house is something not to be missed!
And while you're there do take a walk through the National Rose Garden at Woolmers which is at its peak from the end of October right through summer until the first frosts ...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
What did those convicts eat?
Especially after I've enjoyed a wonderful (and often filling) meal at the Servant's Kitchen at Woolmers I get to wondering how different things were in days gone by. What, for example, did those convicts assigned to such an estate eat?
When I think about the abundance of wonderful food we can enjoy every day - especially in Tassie - I wonder how different it must have been in the early days of settlement.
It's possible the convicts who were transported here were actually better fed when they arrived than they were in the grindingly poor slums of Victorian England from whence they came.
Those who had originally lived in the country would have been better able to survive as their skills could have included knowledge of edible wild plants, such as nettles, dandelions and wild berries.
Starvation was always a prospect for the poor, especially in the urban slums of England and Ireland. Porridge made with boiled maize, oats or rye in water or milk and vegetable soup bulked out with bread - was what people ate if they were lucky - three times a day.
A family's entire diet might consist of no more than potato parings, vegetable refuse and rotten vegetables made into soup and eaten for want of other food. Or they might have lived chiefly off bread and cheese, with bacon two or three times a week, varied with onions.
At Woolmers there was a thriving veggie garden (just as there is today) and an orchard with many different fruit trees, and at one time there was a sizable apple orchard grown for making cider.
So, when convicts were finally assigned to work at Woolmers or Brickendon or any one of the other large pastoral properties of the day, they were at least much better fed than probably they had ever been before. And they would likely have been well able to produce nourishing meals from a wide variety of meat and vegetables.
Soup seems to have been almost a staple, which could be made from almost anything at all - animal or vegetable.
And the early settlers used wild animals and parts of aminals we would never dream of using now - for example I've seen recipes for stews and soups using wombat and echidna and even for sheep's head soup ..... the mind boggles!
When I think about the abundance of wonderful food we can enjoy every day - especially in Tassie - I wonder how different it must have been in the early days of settlement.
It's possible the convicts who were transported here were actually better fed when they arrived than they were in the grindingly poor slums of Victorian England from whence they came.
Those who had originally lived in the country would have been better able to survive as their skills could have included knowledge of edible wild plants, such as nettles, dandelions and wild berries.
Starvation was always a prospect for the poor, especially in the urban slums of England and Ireland. Porridge made with boiled maize, oats or rye in water or milk and vegetable soup bulked out with bread - was what people ate if they were lucky - three times a day.
A family's entire diet might consist of no more than potato parings, vegetable refuse and rotten vegetables made into soup and eaten for want of other food. Or they might have lived chiefly off bread and cheese, with bacon two or three times a week, varied with onions.
At Woolmers there was a thriving veggie garden (just as there is today) and an orchard with many different fruit trees, and at one time there was a sizable apple orchard grown for making cider.
So, when convicts were finally assigned to work at Woolmers or Brickendon or any one of the other large pastoral properties of the day, they were at least much better fed than probably they had ever been before. And they would likely have been well able to produce nourishing meals from a wide variety of meat and vegetables.
Soup seems to have been almost a staple, which could be made from almost anything at all - animal or vegetable.
And the early settlers used wild animals and parts of aminals we would never dream of using now - for example I've seen recipes for stews and soups using wombat and echidna and even for sheep's head soup ..... the mind boggles!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)