Welcome to Barewood

Recognised as a six-star Garden of International Significance by the New Zealand Gardens Trust, Barewood is a constantly evolving artwork of inspired plant and colour combinations. It is a garden internationally recognised, and nationally treasured.

Lovingly created by Carolyn and Joe Ferraby, and now nurtured by new custodians Rosie and Pete, Barewood is a large, semi-formal country garden that roams across four acres in the spectacular Awatere Valley of Marlborough. Nestled amongst beautiful countryside, it is a garden that is serene, intimate and oftentimes otherworldly.

Although challenged by the harsh climate and hard clay soil of the Awatere Valley, the garden continues to thrive on a steady diet of passion, enthusiasm and determination.

- Fergus Garrett,

Great Dixter House & Gardens, UK

The homestead and garden have been positioned within a framework of mature trees which create this tranquil oasis. The romantic century-old homestead with wide verandahs; made using pine milled from the land, cascades in white wisteria and old-fashioned roses. Verdant borders and undulating lawns encircle the home.

Visit us in spring to be beckoned down the hawthorn walk laden with blossom, meander across the grassed meadow to a pair of summerhouses, and a secluded pond fringed with water plants and willow.

The formal potager is a constant work in progress, offering soft fruits, vegetables and herbs. Apples and pears creep over trained canopies. An allee of Malus tschonoskii leads you from the potager to box-edged herbaceous borders, where within the garden you will discover the cob cottage, lovingly restored.

- Judith Petheram

NZ Garden Writer

Barewood’s history is rich and intricate, dating back to some of New Zealand’s earliest European settlers. Both the garden and the buildings it surrounds are testament to the love and hard work that have been poured into Barewood over the course of its history.

Barewood’s cob cottage was built by early settlers to the area. With two modest rooms, the cottage originally housed a family of eight.

In the 1890s Barewood was split off from the neighbouring station, Richmond Brook, and bought by the Radcliffe family. In 1908 the Radcliffes built a homestead on the property, a distinguished building that remains a proud feature today. With new and more spacious housing, the cob cottage was retired as a family home and became a dairy building, where butter and other milk products were made. The cottage has since seen many transitions but has remained an integral part of Barewood. It showcases the history of New Zealand’s pioneering era and how some of our early settlers lived.

Barewood became part of the Ferraby family in 1938. Initially providing a home to Joe's parents, Joe and Carolyn moved in to the homestead when they were married in 1970.

In its earliest existence, the garden at Barewood was close to a blank canvas, consisting of just a simple vegetable garden, a handful of fruit trees, and some flower borders. Large gardens were virtually non-existent in the area as there was very little water in the valley to irrigate during the long, dry Marlborough summer months. However, advances such as the Black Birch Scheme in the 1970s and subsequent irrigation via the Awatere River opened up new opportunities for gardening.

A trained florist before she was married, Carolyn started work on Barewood Garden soon after she arrived at the property. She created the garden around the framework of its stunning 120-year old trees, which had been planted by the original owners of the property. Much of Carolyn's focus whilst designing the garden has been around connecting it with the beautiful historic home.

Inspired by a visit to Rosemary Verey’s garden in England 30 years ago, Carolyn created one of New Zealand’s first potager gardens at Barewood. Over the years, including many hot, dry summers, the potager has provided a harvest for friends and family all year round.

In 2024, Barewoods custodianship passed on to new hands. For now, it is business as usual, with the gardens open seasonally, but a series of new ventures in the pipeline. Barewood is ever-changing, and the house and garden will always be a joyful work in progress.

Everything’s getting big and blousy and gorgeous, and the borders are filling up day by day. In total transparency, our plant knowledge has a few rather gaping holes in it but we are gaining knowledge everyday. It helps that when @carolynferraby pops round I follow her around scribbling down plant names, without a shadow of a doubt spelling them completely wrong, but doing my best. And that’s what we’re here to do at Barewood - just give it our very best shot, and continue to share this magical wonderland with all of you online and in person. If you would like to visit the garden or have an idea, send us a messge. We are open for garden visits, and if you’d like morning tea on the veranda that can be arranged as well 🫖☕️ #nztravel #nzgardens #gardensofnz #newzealandlife #newzealandtourism #newzealandtrip #marlboroughnz #marlboroughgardens #amazinggardens #greenspaces #getoutside #greenfingers #bespoketravel #luxurynztravel #nzhiddengems #newzealandfinds #newzealandvacations
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The unfurling of various giant poppies around the garden is such a happy surprise. Every offering a different colour of papery petals, they come and go pretty quickly too. A blip of beauty in an ever changing landscape.
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Everyone’s very busy here. The comforting buzz of a bumble. The garden at Barewood is teeming with life from dusk till dawn, the birds, bees and butterflies, further afield we can hear cattle and for a few days we’ll listen closely to the sheep grazing our land to bring the grass down. There’s also the lesser loved fly and possum doing the rounds…but all life is good, and are daily reminders that we are not the only ones here and we all need to co exist somehow. So sometimes, just sometimes, I’ll let the snail eat the cabbage.
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Beneath fragrant tendrils, the house is hidden away. Cocooned for the summer by sweet smelling blooms.
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Luminous spears of lupins, peppered all over the garden and standing to attention around every corner. Gorgeous after the rain.
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Moments of stillness between many moments of joyful garden graft. Barewood is not taking part in @gardenmarlborough this year, but we’re so excited to have the opportunity to visit some other gardens in the area 🌱🌸🌿🌸🍃
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Captured here at dusk, you won’t have to look too hard to discover this feathery beauty - Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ gently woven throughout the garden here at Barewood.
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Some gentle shaping along the front border as the garden begins to reveal itself, this garden is a masterpiece unfolding before our eyes. Everyday, a new bloom bursts. The bees are humming with joy.
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An extraordinary historic home nestled amongst this whimsical and romantic garden. Built in 1908, Barewood is fringed with a variety of mature trees that create an incredibly effective shelter belt from the winds. Alongside millable pine for stacking the woodshed in winter, you can seek out old English oaks, a variety of gums, pin oaks, willow and poplar. The habitat they nurture for bird life is like nothing we have ever heard before. All gorgeous, full of movement and life.
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Well goodness gracious me. Here we be, just under a month of life at Barewood and so much to share. A happy collision of right time, right place and right circumstance has landed us where we are right now, the next custodians of Barewood homestead and garden. We are Rosie and Pete - keen gardeners, landscapers, builders, designers, home makers. We’ve turned our hands to many things over our years thus far, but caring for Barewood may be one of the larger leaps of faith we’ve dabbled with! We are constantly learning the landscape here, watching and documenting, asking questions and furiously googling. We are so lucky to have the support, guidance and wealth of knowledge from @carolynferraby and Joe, always at the end of the (landline!) phone should we need. We’re so grateful to be here, so thank you for following along on this massive adventure, we’re so excited to share this exquisite creation with you, and if you’re in the area, drop us a line - we are open for garden visits and tours! Oh, and that’s Whisky and George, resident lawn rugs at Barewood - thoroughly enjoying their retirement to the beautiful Awatere! #barewoodgarden #gardensofnewzealand
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