Roselea in The Press
"From humble paddock to wedding backdrop"
Originally designed to help keep their seven children entertained, Steve and Jackie Clark’s picturesque gardens have become a stunning backdrop for couples exchanging vows.
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Their Roselea Gardens property in Gawler East boasts a long and colourful history.
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Originally known as ‘Mahoney’s Paddock’, the area between Blanch street and Hutchinson road was subdivided into acre blocks in the 1870s, and construction of the house situated on the main block began in 1872.
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The four-bedroom building – with two rooms upstairs and two downstairs – was extended in 1878, when another four rooms were built on the front, plus a balcony over the front entrance.
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In 1880, the house was sold by a distinguished gentleman named Edward Lane to a former Two Wells farmer called William Dowdy, who moved in with his wife Bridget and most of their 14 children.
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Few changes were made to the house over the next century, although an original cedar staircase was ripped out and used for firewood in the 1960s.
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When Steve and Jackie purchased the property in 1989 it was a ‘hammerhead’ block with no street frontage, so they also bought the two blocks to the east, creating one large block reaching Hutchinson road.
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They completed an extension of the house in 1992, and then set out to create their gardens.
“There wasn’t anything at all, it was jut an old paddock,” Jackie said.
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An old paddock with a lot of excess dirt – around 3000 tonnes of it had to be carted away to create a gentle sloping area, which they have divided into layers.
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“We got somebody to do a bit of a plan, we used that to establish the levels but we changed it a lot in terms of the layout, the rooms we created in the garden,” Steve said.
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Much of the garden is divided by stone walls, which were built by Steve’s father Ron.
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“He was actually working in retail sales at the time; he saw another wall and said ‘I could do better than that’, so we said why not have a crack,” Steve said.
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“He found his calling at about 60 years of age – he’s 75 now and still doing it as a hobby!”
While there were some established trees on the block, Jackie said they wanted to create a garden that matched the age of the house, so they had some older palm trees brought in.
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“About 15 years ago the Greenock Bakery gave two palm trees to us,” she said.
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“They were brought down on a semi-trailer, and an arborist planted them for us. They were put up with a crane.”
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The garden also includes a lawn tennis court and a shaded swimming pool, plus a small rotunda. The steps through the garden were built with slate from Mintaro.
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Scattered around the garden is a range of aviaries with exotic birds including blue and gold macaws and double yellow-headed amazon birds from Mexico.
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Back in 2000, after receiving several requests from friends, Jackie said they decided to start opening the garden up for weddings, and they haven’t looked back.
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“It’s lovely seeing the brides on their big day, it’s something I enjoy doing,” Jackie said. |
"Art deco cottage has eclectic style"
Earlier this year, Steve and Jackie Clark purchased a block of land fronting Blanch street that has a 1940s house on it, which they have named Roselea Cottage.
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Their block now extends from Blanch street to Hutchinson road, but the Clarks decided to divide it up so they could create a bed and breakfast at the cottage – although they still have a driveway off of Blanch street as well.
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They have spent the past seven months renovating – stripping off wallpaper, re-wiring the house, ripping up floor coverings, replacing the windows, adding a doorway and getting the floorboards polished.
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The freestone ‘art deco’ style construction of the house has some unique features including rounded edges instead of corners in the loungeroom, and metal-framed doorways. The house is an eclectic mix of styles and materials, with some of the floorboards resembling packing crate timber.
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To find out more about either of the above properties, visit www.roseleagardens.com.au.
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