Auckland Garden DesignFest Guided Bus Tour
This bus tour includes garden entrance fees. The bus tour departs from, and returns to, Selwyn College in Kohimarama. We'll visit a selection of the available gardens, depending on traffic and crowds on the day. The 2023 date will be scheduled once details are available. Please express your interest via the link below, and we'll email you this course is scheduled.
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Description
Join a garden designer and be guided through some of Auckland’s private gardens as part of the Auckland Garden Design Festival. Your guide will talk about garden design principles and planting design, with intimate knowledge relating to each of the gardens on the tour.
This tour will depart from, and return to, Selwyn College, Kohimarama, Auckland 9 AM - 4:30 PM on the day of the tour. Your tour fee includes the DesignFest admission ticket. We may move up to a slightly bigger bus is there is demand.
About the Auckland Garden DesignFest 2022
This annual event, now in its sixth year, opens private gardens offering visitors the chance to see these hidden spaces and to talk to their garden designers. For more information about the Auckland Garden DesignFest visit their website here. For 2022, the gardens will be announced in mid-October.
Guide Antoinette has selected several gardens to visit for this tour. You'll start in Takapuna with garden number 1. Then back to Pt Chevalier for garden 7, then Freemans Bay to see numbers 3 and 5. Next is Mt Eden to view gardens 12 and 13, and finishing in Remuera at garden 16 before returning to Selwyn College. This itinerary may need to change slightly on the day to fit with traffic, crowds etc.
Notes about what to wear/bring
Wear comfortable footwear and dress for the day (hat, sunblock, rainjacket etc). Bring a water bottle. Bring your lunch.
We regret that we cannot accept alternative travel arrangements for this tour due to logistical reasons. All participants must depart from and return to Selwyn College. If you do not wish to join our bus tour, you may wish to make your own arrangements to visit the gardens. Click through to the Auckland Garden DesignFest website here.
Tour Guide 2022
Introducing Antoinette van der Weerden. Currently I am the course co-ordinator for landscape design at Wintec, in Hamilton. We are situated in the heart of the Hamilton Gardens, so are surrounded in great design every day! My passion for gardens and design started at home with a very arty mother, a potter, amazing cook, and crafts person. Being surrounded by good design is the best way to develop a love for it.
My interest and curiosity have been kept alive by teaching garden history and planting design for the past 15 years here at Wintec and being an accredited member of the Garden Design Society ensures I am still surrounded by like minded people to share and discuss the pleasures of all gardens, while also inspiring students new to this field of study.
Understanding the past, the history of our shared garden design discipline, guides our way forward as we move into a new era, where ecological imperatives drive our thinking today, while the traditions of the past and current gardens are still so delicious to dip into.
I would be honoured to share the Garden Design Society’s garden tour with you this year, and look forward to having an inspiring and fun day out.
