Every year in early summer, a bunch of private gardens in Joburg open up to the public as part of the Gardens of the Golden City series. This is a rare and special opportunity; This city has some incredibly beautiful gardens with incredibly beautiful houses attached to them.
My friend Michelle and I visited one of these gardens — “The Stables” at 34 Pallinghurst Road in Westcliff — the weekend before last. The Stables is one of many Joburg mansions designed by renowned architect Herbert Baker around the turn of the 20th century. The garden was designed by Tim and Liz Steyn.
Here are a few pictures.
The Pallinghurst open garden cost R70 (about $5) to enter (most of the other open gardens are a bit cheaper). There was also a great little tea garden and wine/gin bar set up offering tasty food and drinks, with all the proceeds benefitting Johannesburg Child Welfare. It was such a lovely afternoon out.
Sorry for the short post — I’m on the move. But I wanted to slap this up and let you know that if you’ve missed all the open gardens up until now, don’t worry. There are several more coming up in late October and November. Peruse the list here on the Gardens of the Golden City website. Also read this post about a previous visit to the Gardens of the Golden City.
so pretty, would love to do one of these tours. I have a story about gatecrashing a Herbert Baker home and garden this weekend, BY MISTAKE, and boy did we get into trouble…
As in, you did that this PAST weekend?
yes. were met by one very IRATE homeowner. I shall tell you over a coffee…
I look forward to that.
meantime that home, the very modern one, looks INCREDIBLE.
Definitely something to do at least once. Have you done these tours previous years?
Yes, once before! I have a link to that post at the end.
Thanks will go check it out.
Nice roses and views! I’ll show this to my wife and maybe pay a visit someday.
Your blog is so amazing! Can’t stop going through it!
Aw, thank you so much Sipho! That’s what I love to hear 🙂