ALL ABOARD!!

Eberhard and I purchased our property at Glen Aplin in the cool mountain district of southern Queensland known as the Granite Belt in 1992. At the time we established Das Helwig Haus B&B there were only 12 accommodation providers and 12 wineries. Now there are more than 60 wineries and hundreds of accommodation houses – B&Bs, motels, cottages, chalets and cabins. The latest addition to our competition takes the form of the Harrington Glen Rattler, a distinctive, refurbished 75ft Melbourne Train Carriage.

In my book- Wildflowers, wilderness and wine – I recount the arrival in the district of Harry and Glen Ireland and their establishment of the Harrington Glen Wines amongst the vineyards of the Glen Aplin valley.

Glen Aplin valley vineyards

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DAS HELWIG HAUS B&B

It was in November of 1992 that we purchased these 32 acres at 113 Mt. Stirling Road, Glen Aplin on the Granite Belt - the cool mountain district of southern Queensland. Our aim was to establish a Bed and Breakfast business to provide us with a ‘way of life’ during our older years. Happily, we were successful. On the 3rd July this week my husband, Eberhard, reached 83 years of age. I am now in my 70th year. We have reached the reluctant decision that it is time to sell our business and retire. It is unlikely that I will ever truly retire, as once I no longer have the physical work associated with this business, I’ll be able to give more time to writing and sharing with my readers the knowledge I have gained. Nonetheless as Eberhard is 14 years older than me I am expecting that he will need more full time care in the years ahead.

Eberhard

The photo above of Eberhard was taken last December when his heart failed. He was airlifted to a Brisbane hospital by helicopter where a cardiologist inserted a pacemaker to keep his heart beating. He made an excellent recovery. Read the rest of this entry »

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STROLL THE PATHS OF THE FRONT GARDEN

When I first sighted the cypress pine cottage that was to become our future home I was delighted by the honey stained timber which blended naturally amongst several tall eucalyptus trees. While constructing the garden I maintained the natural ambiance by creating rock edged sand paths.

As I lead my tour group towards the southern portion of our front garden I offer them a choice or direction where the path divides around a large bed containing an ivy covered stump, a popular spot for my cat, Patches, to supervise garden activities.

Patches on Ivy

The area fronting our house contained five large eucalyptus trees, the variety known as Peppermint gums, which grow in the cool mountain districts along the Great Dividing Range from Melbourne to the Granite Belt of southern Queensland. Most farmers curse eucalyptus trees because they survive the droughts of Australia due to their capacity to spread roots to match the height of their growth. They are capable of taking every last bit of moisture from the ground. They drop eucalyptus leaves as a mulch  containing a chemical which acts as a growth retardant for grass and other plants within their drip zone.

When he sighted those five trees my father warned, “They’ll rob your garden of all its goodness.”

Other people worried, “What about storms? Aren’t you worried they’ll fall and damage your house?”

Reluctant to remove the trees until I had other plants established I allowed them to remain. Sure, I was forever raking leaves, adding rich composts and pouring on the water, but those trees provided cooling shade in the summer and a degree of frost protection in the winter.

Then disaster struck! Read the rest of this entry »

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WE ENTER THE HERB GARDEN

“Why do you call this your herb garden?

I am always asked this question as we walk down the slope between borders of marigolds and camomile daisies. It is true that this lower terrace at the rear of the house has never been designed as a formal potager. The style of such a traditional garden is usually symmetrical and surrounded by neatly trimmed box hedges. They often contain a fountain, bird bath or sundial in the centre.

The reason that this area at the rear of Das Helwig Haus B&B became our herb garden is its proximity to our kitchen. Rather than keeping a bunch of herbs in a glass on my kitchen table, I prefer to go into the garden to gather fresh sprigs as needed.

Garden path between marigolds and camomile.

I grow the German camomile (matricaria recutita) as an annual plant like the marigolds as it self-seeds and germinates thickly each year in August. The flowers are plucked when fully open, dried and stored. Later they can be steeped in hot water to provide a soothing bed-time tea to encourage a restful sleep.

We pass beside the feijoa trees under which I have planted seed of jam melons as they will need space to run out their vines.  Borage always self-seeds in this area too. It was the ancient Romans who first floated borage flowers in cups of wine. I pick a few dainty blue flowers and hand them to my garden visitors, remarking that I freeze the flowers in ice blocks to later float in a jug of water. The leaves of this herb are cucumber flavoured.

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COME, WALK THROUGH MY GARDEN.

Fay escorts you through her garden

When I designed my garden it never crossed my mind that every year I would be opening it to the public throughout October and November. Instead of creating a seasonal spring garden I planned a garden which every month of the year would offer something special for our Bed and Breakfast guests.

Eberhard and I had spent the spring months of 1990 in Europe and when we moved to the Granite Belt, the coldest district in Queensland 1992 I realised that I could propagate many of the plants that I had seen growing in the Northern Hemisphere.

In 1993 I asked Eberhard to plough the field in front of our house to allow me to establish a wildflower meadow like I had seen in Germany. I realised that in the cool mountain climate of the Granite Belt I would be able to grow the red poppies, blue cornflowers and the other European flowers which had given me so much pleasure during our travels.

This photo of the geese amongst the poppies of our wildflower meadow was taken on the 26^th October, 1995 by photographer and friend, Errol Walker.

Geese in the wildflowers at Das Helwig Haus

My powers of observation came into play and I noted that it took sixteen weeks from when the poppy seed was sown for the plant to reach flowering. I recognised that it would be possible to germinate the poppy seedlings to time the flowering to begin mid October and continue on to the end of November.

With Eberhard’s approval I suggested to the Stanthorpe RSL that we should plough up our wildflower meadow and at the end of June seed it with wheat, poppies and cornflowers to represent the way the wheat fields of France had looked before the devastation of World War One. Then we would open our field to the public for a $2.00 gold coin. The RSL agreed to collect the money. They raised a thousand dollars, which was donated to Brisbane Legacy, an organization which normally earns money by selling the artificial poppies.

Several country newspapers covered the story. One of these was the Queensland Country Life. Kate Wilkie, the young journalist, wrote a feature on the village of Glen Aplin. When I read the article I noted that the district had four red products – cherries, strawberries, wines and our red Flanders poppies. I sought the support of these other tourism businesses and launched the Red November promotion, which brings numerous coach tours to these Granite Belt attractions throughout October and November.

Red wine, red strawberries, red cherries and red poppies.

Selectors for the Australian Open Garden Scheme visited our garden. They described it as young but inspirational. They asked, if we would be prepared to open under the AOG banner the following year and we agreed.

This Open Garden event resulted in a demand from coach companies and numerous clubs requesting us to open our garden over a six week period. This has grown to become an annual event for the Glen Aplin region of the Granite Belt.

During the next few weeks I will escort you through my garden pointing out to you the highlights of the spring season and answering the questions asked by my coach tour visitors.

As I do this I will explain how I constructed the garden from scratch, designing the layout, sourcing the landscaping materials and establishing one section at a time over a period of five years

Fay escorts a garden tour group in 2007

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Hello, I’m Fay Helwig of Das Helwig Haus B&B near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt.  I grew up on a cattle property and later lived on different farms in varied climates where I always established a garden.
 
I now live in a cool mountain district famous for being the coldest region of Queensland. Due to the cool climate the area is recognised for its high altitude wines and apple orchards. A district attraction is the Girraween National Park famous for granite mountains and Australian wildflowers.
 
I have combined all these features Wildflowers, Wilderness and Wine as my title for a book about my lifestyle.
 
My aim with this blog is to share with you the fun of tourism festivals, the joy of growing a huge and productive garden and the self-sufficiency skills I can teach you.  My blog will include photographs, recipes and anecdotes concerning the training of young WWOOFERs – willing workers on organic farms.
 
 Das Helwig Haus B&B was named the best Bed and Breakfast in Queensland by the journalists of the Sunday Mail. The Remembrance Field of Flanders Poppies was featured on Burke’s Backyard and the German Christmas feasts are shown on SBS Food Lovers Guide to Australia.

Technorati Tags: australian wildflowers, best bed and breakfast in queensland, burke's backyard, cattle property, coldest region of queensland, cool mountain district, das helwig haus, fay helwig, german christmas feast, girraween national Park, granite belt, granite mountains, productive garden, remembrance field of flanders poppies, sbs food lovers guide, self-sufficiency skills, stanthorpe, WWOOF, yourism festivals