Rivedale Retreat Gardens

Sunlit glades catch your breath as you wander the two acres of landscaped gardens: Copper trees, Weeping holly, Californian Redwood, Elm, Pine and Walnut. A sense of place, of community, gathers in at Riverdale – all is soft, pleasurable, reflective.

Bushfood Garden

The bushfood garden is an apothecary of more than 50 medicinal and culinary plants. Herbalists and those wise in the way of plants will delight in gathering leaf, berry and twig. Wattle greens for salads, lemon myrtle and strawberry gum leaves for teas. Crushed and rubbed between the palms the aroma is reminiscent of an Australian childhood. Fruit trees with laden branches bow to the earth, creating moments of seclusion within the garden. Apples, pears, an abundance of citrus all welcome you to enjoy the bounty.

Kitchen Garden

In the generous kitchen garden, you need only a basket to gather fresh produce for meals. Grown with a generous sprinkling of love, and with sustainable biodynamic principles, there is seasonal abundance that will nourish your participants from the inside out.

Main Garden

Sunlit glades catch your breath as you wander the main garden, tiny pockets of restful spaces, a comfort that invites long hours languishing with a book, or napping as the warmth of the sun creeps across your face. There is space to be together and apart. A sense of place, of community, gathers in at Riverdale–all is soft, pleasurable, reflective.

Riverdale Retreaet Carries Stories in Her Lands

The history of the ancestors speaks to those who seek to listen, through 200-year-old trees, through rustling grasslands and through dreams and desires. Beyond the carefully curated flowing gardens are wild spaces of transformation and reflection. A circle of elder tree stumps wait patiently for groups to sit and tell their stories and the adjacent labyrinth weaves its way through the native grasses where seekers can walk to the centre and return. There are two acres of landscape gardens that welcome you home with Copper trees, Weeping holly, Californian Redwood, Elm, Pine and Walnut all to be discovered on moonlit walks.