869-869 Travel Guide

Nooroo Garden at Mount Wilson, deep in the Blue Mountains, is a long-established private garden known for its spring rhododendrons and autumn foliage. Laid out across a hillside, it mixes lawns, shaded paths and stone pavilions with extensive plantings of rhododendrons, camellias, maples and beeches — a sea of bloom in spring and layered colour in autumn, making it one of the Blue Mountains' most popular spots for flowers and photography. As a private garden, Nooroo usually opens to the public only during the flowering and autumn-colour seasons and is closed at other times; dates and entry fees are announced each year. Mount Wilson has several such gardens, so plan to visit a few in one day.

Bebeah Garden at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains is a historic garden laid out around a nineteenth-century house and known for its Victorian structure and spring display. Broad lawns, a mirror-like pond and shaded walks radiate from the house, framed by rhododendrons, camellias, maples and other deciduous trees. Spring brings dense colour and autumn turns the maples red, with reflections in the water doubling the effect — one of the Blue Mountains' signature spots for flowers and photography. As a private garden, Bebeah usually opens in spring and autumn only. It sits close to the other Mount Wilson gardens, so a one-day multi-garden itinerary works well.

Mount Wilson is a small village on a plateau roughly a thousand metres above sea level in the Blue Mountains, along Bells Line of Road, known for its concentration of century-old private gardens. The volcanic soil and cool climate here suit temperate flowering plants, and from the late nineteenth century a number of families built houses and gardens, gradually creating today's garden village. The village itself is tiny with no commercial strip — the draw is the cluster of notable gardens, with rhododendrons and camellias in spring and maples and beeches turning in autumn, plus hillside tracks and nearby gorges and waterfalls. Most gardens open only during the flowering and autumn-colour seasons, so check each one's dates before travelling.

Breenhold Garden at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains is the largest private garden in the area, covering about 28 hectares with thousands of deciduous trees and broad lawns, and is at its most spectacular in autumn. Paths follow the contours of the land through belts of maples, oaks and beeches, where gold and orange canopies combine with grass and woodland tracks into something close to a painting; a woodland cricket pitch survives in the grounds, adding a distinctly English country note. As a private garden, Breenhold opens to the public mainly during the flowering and autumn-colour seasons and is closed at other times. Nooroo, Bebeah and others are close by, so a one-day multi-garden itinerary works well.