Garden formalities

Fragrant Flowers: Delicately scented flowers such as bowls of lavender scent the air at Brookhurst.

Green Welcome: Visitors to Brookhurst are greeted by fresh green hedging and fragrant standard roses. Old bed ends were used for support in the entrance gardens.

At Home: Keen gardener Helen Sullivan with puppy Theo in the sheltered back courtyard garden.

Classic Lines: Neatly clipped buxus, lonicera and teucrium hedging, garden statuary, terracotta paving and black iron add up to a classic look at Brookhurst.

Productive Potager: A neatly laid out kitchen garden at the rear of Brookhurst provides Helen and Brian with plenty of herbs and vegetables for their table. The rear garden also includes a small thriving citrus grove.

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Seclusion and tranquillity combine at Brookhurst, one of five gardens in this year's Hunter's Garden Marlborough Urban Gardens Tour.

Situated near the Taylor River at the end of a tree-lined drive, Brookhurst is a classic-style home and garden sheltered by large established trees.

Owners Helen and Brian Sullivan have spent the past six years meticulously creating a lush green oasis only minutes from Blenheim's town centre.

The entrance is formal, followed by rambling rose beds, an attractive pond and hedges of buxus, lonicera and teucrium. Roses, camellias and hydrangeas are underplanted with renga renga lilies, spring bulbs and summer flowers just starting to come into their floral glory. Orange clivias mix with white honesty while roses, delphiniums and foxgloves should all be flowering by next week.

When the couple acquired Brookhurst, it was part of a newly subdivided area with an existing house and numerous large trees. They started by gutting the house and removing several trees to let light in. From the skeletal remains Brookhurst arose: a formal-style home which they run as a bed and breakfast, surrounded by tranquil formal gardens at the front and cottage-style plantings at the rear.

"There were some lovely old trees and old roses," said Helen. "We added to those."

Brian added his bit to the project by improving the soil with his compost.

He's passionate about compost, passing on worthwhile tips to whomever will listen.