EPIPHANY GARDEN

It stands on top of a hill overlooking the busy South Eastern Freeway but up here at the Church of the Epiphany at Crafers, the traffic seems a world away, cut off by this peaceful garden retreat. Built in 1878 by Arthur Hardy, the man who built Mount Lofty House, the Church of the Epiphany and the nearby rectory are surrounded by century old oak trees.

They were provided by one of the first directors of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Dr Richard Schomburgh, and have flourished here in the Adelaide Hills despite all that's been thrown at them. All of this was nearly lost in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfire. In fact, the lower part of the garden was destroyed. But thanks to award winning garden designer Dianna McGregor, the newly completed memorial garden proves what you can do with some good ideas and a gifted craftsman.

"I think you'd go a very, very long way to find another craftsman capable of doing this sort of work. I've actually had comments made that I was very, very lucky to have this outcrop of natural rock here so I can put a pool there, but that's all the work of Derek Moule".

Derek is renowned for his ability to transform a garden setting with local stone and plenty of hard work. For Derek the shady rock pool conjures up images of similar natural settings in his beloved Adelaide Hills while for Dianna, the emphasis is on creating a mix of colour in keeping with the first garden planted last century.

"I tried to get plants that were available in the 1880's, so all of these plants are similar to what was planted then, they may be a hardier variety"

"Because it belongs to a church and because it's a memorial garden, I wanted it to be very peaceful"

"I really wanted it to be a garden that people could come and have picnics in and feel that it was really their own space"

Inside are reminders, carved in pear wood, of the Christmas festival from which the Church draws its name, with the three wise men on their way to visit the infant Christ. And nearby other reminders of how the Church and its gardens have survived in spite of the full fury of the Ash Wednesday fires.

"Eighty three the fire came within metres of the Church and burnt a lot of the garden, not mercifully, the big oak trees. And that panel there, the bottom right of those four panels there, the eastern lilly was the first plant to come out of the ashes"

Now one of the old oak frames the nearby Rectory Garden which is Denise Stephenson's pride and joy.

"But of course the oak would have been planted when the Church was built or even before so it's been here a long, long time and the rest we've just added to"

"And have you got any particular style that you always tend to create?"

"Cottage garden, they're my favourite. I love roses but of course there's a lot of shade up here and I can't have as many roses as I'd like but plenty of cottage plants"

The Church of Epiphany with its Memorial and Rectory Gardens is at Epiphany Place at Crafers, immediately off the freeway exit, and is open to the public.