Ayrlies Garden

Ayrlies is a beautiful private country garden. A woodland of maples graces large ponds edged in hostas, irises and other damp loving plants and connected by a tumbling stream. There are collections of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and masses of old roses and other climbers twining through trees and over pergolas. Garden seats beckon to delightful vistas with surprise corners along easy wandering paths.

Sculptured enthusiastically from a bare paddock by Malcolm and Beverley McConnell in 1964, the estate takes its name from the family farm in Scotland. The garden evolved out of a desire to create a larger informal country garden reminiscent of the homestead gardens of Beverley's Hawkes Bay childhood; a garden where the contours of the land dictated the shape; a garden where there was space for larger trees grown in family groups; a seasonal garden where the challenge is still to have some plant or vista at its best every week of the year; a garden where still ponds and cascades of water create a sense of tranquility; a garden filled with moments of drama and lots of heady perfume.

In the 1970s Oliver Briers came from England to help. Oliver enjoys natural landscaping. His natural eye for line coupled with his innovative construction give Ayrlies permanent form and interest complementing the more transient nature of the plantings. In 1978 they expanded the garden from three acres to ten and have future plans to transform the swamp flats below the homestead into park land thus linking the garden to the sea.

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