Beleura House and Garden head gardener Richard Smith. Photos: Deborah Britten
Richard Smith, head gardener at Beleura House and Garden in Mornington, resisted his destiny when young. His father was an eccentric Yorkshire nurseryman, a conifer specialist who once had a Christmas tree farm and later built a ski lift and chalet on their snowy hill paddock.
Richard left school early and escaped to France with 35 pounds in his pocket. He returned home when the money ran out, worked odd jobs to save for more travelling, but always looked for something other than a life with plants. His father dragged him to some of the UK’s best gardens – Bodnant in Wales, the gardens of Ullapool in Scotland. Something must have lodged in his brain, in his soul.
Now he arguably has the best gardening job in Victoria, certainly on the Peninsula. He and his small team manage an eccentric garden paradise that keeps its founder John Tallis’s memory alive.
Beleura House, an Italianate villa, was built in the 1860s on one of the highest points of Mornington’s coast. The property was bought in 1916 as a summer retreat by Melbourne’s George Tallis, an owner of J C Williamson, a global theatrical empire. His son John inherited Beleura in 1948 when his father died and the garden became an all-consuming passion. John went to Europe and bought extravagant statues, pots and fountains in Italy. He added a Japanese garden, a Mediterranean courtyard, a big area for vegies and fruit, and a walled ‘Hansel and Gretel’ garden. John died in 1996 at age 86 and left Beleura to the people of Victoria through the National Trust.
The house is a museum and the garden is amazing. Richard has been head gardener for 17 years. “I reckon John Tallis would love what we do: it remains an eccentric garden,” he said.
Richard has a lot of independence but also likes running his ideas past Beleura general manager Martin Green and his predecessor Anthony Knight, a director and trustee of the Tallis Foundation, set up in 1996. Anthony spent three years at Beleura when John was alive.
“I like gardens that ask questions, gardens that jar,” Richard said. “I like change; I’m not bound by tradition. The garden is baroque, jovial, something from the end of the Renaissance.”
Richard’s greatest concern is what effect climate change will have on the garden and its soils. “We’re improving our watering and composting systems to hold moisture in. We’ll need lush, thick, healthy plants to survive future dry conditions. We have 300,000 litres of rainwater in tanks for watering and to supply the 40 water features.”
Richard is acutely aware of passing on a strong garden and good soils for a future head gardener. “I’m in awe of people like Frederick Sargood, who planted trees at Rippon Lea in the late 1800s knowing he would be compost before they matured.”
Richard said he loves the Royal Botanic Gardens at South Yarra, the Australian Garden at RBG’s Cranbourne site. And his own backyard garden at home on the southern Peninsula? “I’m in there in fits and starts. I’ll do some planting and weeks later notice it’s looking like a jungle so I head down there and get into it for a few hours.”
Beleura House and Garden has a café and a music recital centre that hosts a wide variety of events throughout the year. Visit the website for information about house and garden tours and more at beleura.org.au
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