Lots going on at Banksia Hollow

It’s now the middle of winter here and the mornings have been frosty and cold but generally followed by beautiful clear days with blue sky from horizon to horizon.  We came back from our annual holidays with spending money to spare which we have invested in getting the house to the next level.  We are pushing forward as fast as we can to get the bathroom and kitchen fully functional so we can concentrate on the garden.

The excavator has cleared all the stumps from the carpark and the new vegetable garden and orchard, the septic trench is dug and the rear of the house has been landscaped ready for the infinity lawn.  We have finished the plastering and it is stopped up ready to paint.  We hope to see the electrician sometime soon (hint hint) to finish the power points and lights, the combustion stove is installed and we have 250lts of boiling water available all day, and a nice warm house too. Running water is connected to the kitchen and hopefully later this week a flushing toilet. What can I say, so much luxury!!

The house is full of light which is the effect we were after and is spacious, even though it is only 97sqm as we have no wasted space in hallways or extra rooms that don’t get used. It is a really nice space to live in with views of the bush from all the windows and we can see the bird life in the garden.

The gravity feed water to the house is working well and the solar is having no trouble keeping up with our current useage, that might change when all the lights are installed but time will tell.  The batteries are usually fully charged by early afternoon. The passive solar design keeps the house warm, around 19-21 degrees during a sunny day, but 25 degrees when the fire is going, we have had to open the doors some days.  We are still losing a lot of heat through the three tin walls where the art glass and stone walls will be installed but we don’t have enough spare time at the moment to finish those, as any spare time must go into the garden for now.

The next focus will be on moving the raspberries to the new secure garden, then getting stuck into planting for food production as we have neglected that during the busy building phase lately. Then more fencing. We have plans for a dam behind the house this December, with a small jetty, our own little Walden Pond and I will be able to go swimming again.

We had a fabulous 30 days in Europe during May/June.  We started in Scotland, then England, France and finished in Italy.  We just based ourselves in only five cities, Inverness, London, Paris, Venice and Rome.  Then did all our sightseeing from there to save unpacking and packing all the time.  We particularly enjoyed Scotland, especially the Cairngorms and Findhorn, then down to London for the Chelsea Flower Show, out to Avebury, Kew  and all the usual icons, then on to Paris, we did all the big ticket items as we went around but spent most of our time in gardens and looking at art.

We were very inspired by both the gardens we visited and also the paintings and sculpture.  Then we flew to Venice which was our next favourite place after Scotland. We visited the islands but were most touched by Burano with all its beautifully painted houses and lovely scented gardens. Next was Rome, Naples and Tivoli.  We saw all the iconic buildings but they were very crowded as it was summer time so the most enjoyable times were spent in the out of the way places.

Whenever I get an art book down from our bookcase now it is full of pictures of works that we have now seen first hand.  Our main reason for visiting as many gardens as we could was to seek inspiration for our own garden and we have returned full of it (inspiration that is). It was the same reason for visiting Venice as Bryon wanted to see the patinas on the buildings and we took hundreds of photos so I am looking forward to his Venice inspired paintings (just have to build him a new studio).

For me the most memorable times were the sight of Loch an Eilein during the early morning with the reflections, the wildflowers and scents in the hedgerows in England, the beauty of Burano and the honey scent on the air from the lime trees and honeysuckle in the gardens, and the Villa D’Est gardens at Tivoli. Bryon was particularly moved by Avebury, the stones were much larger than we expected and it was awe inspiring to walk amongst them and to see the scale of the complex, the depth of the trench around the town, all contributed to a memorable experience.

Bryon also loved Monet’s Garden as he had previously done his own Monet inspired water lillies and now he’s seen the real thing. Like me, Bryon’s favourite places were Scotland and Venice. I’ve included a few photos here but will be writing a bit more from my journal with a few more photos a little later on when time permits as for now it is 12 hour days to get everything to the point where we can get out and enjoy creating the garden. We have been taking Italian lessons since returning to Australia so that part of our holiday will live on for some time yet.  Despite all the adventures and wonderful places we visited I am so grateful to live where I live, with whom I live, and to share it with such beautiful friends.