Sevenhill Heritage Garden: Keith takes a stroll in the this beautiful part of the Mid North region of South Australia

Lush grapevines cradled in rolling gum tree capped hills, twisting bush roads flanked by glorious native scrub - it has to be the Clare Valley. There's another postcard picture around every bend.

Up one of the many alluring by-ways you come to a classic country garden - the Heritage Garden of Sevenhill. It's a garden of surprises - just five years ago it was a paddock!

Now a staggering two thousand old world roses thrive in the lush green oasis - the work of legendary Rose enthusiast, Walter Duncan and his wife, Kay.

I asked Walter why he decided to turn a paddock into a garden. "The decision to build a house and garden in a clean paddock revolved around us having a 'clean slate'. We could do exactly what we wanted to do from scratch," said Walter.

And what a triumph - a stunning rose garden that takes two months to prune. Walter and Kay used the existing gum trees as a backdrop but added exotic trees like poplars and birches with stunning effect.

And by using a clever combination of fast growing plants and slower varieties they've achieved a garden which looks like it's always been here and ane that's managed to defy the drought thanks to the tonnes of mulch spread by Walter's right hand man, Brian Courtney.

One of the stunning features of the Heritage Garden - and there are many - is the giant rose arbor - a favourite spot for weddings.

"The arbor is about 60 metres long," said Walter. "Half way along it narrows about 300 mm. The idea is to draw you in and make you feel welcome. It also looks longer."

At the centre of the garden is an imposing 1890 classic solid stone villa that's been here for decades right? Well, in this garden, not everything is as it seems.

"This is the house that my brother and I grew up in Adelaide," said Walter. "We lived there for 30 odd years and when I came here with Kay we rebuilt it."

When the old Duncan family home in Adelaide was sold Walter just couldn't bear to see it demolished. So load by load they trucked it to Sevenhill.

"It feels fabulous. You know the windows have got the same squeak, the doors that wouldn't open still don't open. It's really an uncanny feeling…"

A true masterpiece - the house and garden compliment each all the way. But the last thing Walter wants is for visitors to be intimated by the size of it all. So he's made sure the garden is peppered with ideas we can all use like smaller 'garden rooms'.

Another part of the garden in dominated by big trees including a giant walnut tree.

"The walnut tree belonged to the little house that was here years ago when the McCord family lived here. The garden grew vegetables, cut flowers and fruit trees."

The McCord's original 140 year old cottage is now a cosy B&B. Destroyed in the ferocious 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires, Walter and Kay have painstakingly restored it stone by stone - a bit like the main house. Of course, it has it's own private rose-shrouded courtyard.

Inside the cottage B&B are more signs of just how creative Kay and Walter are. The walls are adorned with wonderful examples of Kay's traditional quilting.

For rose lovers and gardeners in general this is paradise but you don't have to know one end of a garden shovel from another to enjoy the sense of the old and the new here. They have done a beautiful job setting this young garden amongst the blue gums of the Clare Valley. The Heritage Garden - down that by-way from Sevenhill. It's worth the trip.

The Heritage Garden and cottage B&B are on Gillentown Road, Sevenhill. Turn left from the main road at the Sevenhill pub. The garden is open by appointment all year round and look out for their special open days.

Give Kay a call or log on to their website for details.

Published Sunday 22nd April 2007