Nonsuch
is located in the Derwent Valley of the island of Tasmania
in the Southern Ocean below Australia. Tasmania is a relatively
large island with a population of about half a million,
mostly centred in the major towns of Hobart and Launceston.
It has a temperate (if windy!) climate, is heavily mountained
and contains one of the world's oldest and largest World
Heritage Wilderness areas. The cool rainforest wilderness
of Tasmania is beyond beautiful - if ever you get a chance
to see it, then snatch at that chance - and it has heavily
influenced my choice of garden. Tasmania was originally
settled by Europeans in the early 1800s, and the main
towns of the island remain predominantly Georgian and
Victorian in their architecture and 'feel'. I wanted to
move to Tasmania for the climate, for its natural beauty,
and for its heritage. I house-hunted through late 2004
into early 2005, and in February 2005 I discovered Nonsuch.
Described
as a Gentleman's Residence, Nonsuch was one of the very
original houses in the Cornelian Bay and New Town area,
which was itself the first suburb of Hobart, the capital
city of Tasmania. Early paintings and photographs show
the house (with its stables and outbuildings) surrounded
by fields, orchards and market gardens with nothing but
a toll house some distance away as the only companion
building. These paintings and photographs demonstrate
that, apart from a general inclination towards crumbling,
the house has hardly changed over the past century and
a half. The only real difference is that, probably early
in the twentieth century, the old wooden shingle roof
was covered with a tin roof (this tin roof itself was
replaced within a year of moving into Nonsuch).
The
'gentleman's' part of the house contains a large and impressive
hallway, three bedrooms, a library, a front sitting room
with a lovely bay window (now used as an office), a drawing
room (which contains a cupboard with the house's original
wallpaper still inside it), and a bathroom, while the
back servant's part of the house contains a servant's
hallway (still with the brass servants bells hanging),
a big kitchen, a scullery, a pantry, a laundry and a shower
room and toilet.
Oh,
the back servant's hallway also contains the Hobbit's
Door, which is a full-sized door sitting six feet up in
the wall leading ... well, who knows where. It has been
roughly plaster-boarded into a cupboard behind the doorway
(oh so useful when the first shelf is more than six feet
up!), but it is obvious it once led somewhere.
That's an adventure for another day.
In
the grounds are three large sheds, one of which once held
the outdoor toilet and bathroom. These are now used as
garden and storage sheds. Under the house there is a massive
area for storage. The house next door is actually Nonsuch's
old stable block, although now sadly much altered into
modernity.
Pre-dating
the house is the ancient hawthorn hedge that runs along
the back of the property (within the neighbourhood this
hedge is almost always referred to in reverential tones
as the Historic Hawthorn Hedge). No one knows when that
was first planted, as it was old when Nonsuch was built
in the 1880s. Trust me when I say it is still vibrant
- many are the afternoons I've spent pulling out vicious
barbs from my fingers and scalp after tying to push my
way through to hitherto undiscovered parts of Nonsuch
gardens. The hedge runs along the entire back property
line of Nonsuch, rising to about twelve feet high and
about four thick. There is a Great Effort made to prune
it every year, involving much discussion, planning and
teeth sucking among the neighbours. A Very Brave Man is
brought in for the pruning - none of us want to go within
fifteen feet of the thing with the shears. (I actually
have rotting rolled-up newspapers littering part of the
hedge where the newspaper man has been too enthusiastic
in tossing the papers over the side fence. They're stuck
on the barbs, too high up to reach, and not even the pruning
man has managed to get them out.)
Nonsuch
sat on one of the major approach roads into Hobart, thus
the toll house, and there would have been the constant
traffic of carts carrying produce from the gardens and
farms of the Cornelian Bay and New Town area into growing
Hobart Town. The views from the house were, and are, magnificent.
Nonsuch sits on the rise of Nanny Goat Hill overlooking
Cornelian and New Town Bays, and facing north towards
Mount Direction. Mount Wellington sits to the west of
the house, the Derwent River to the right, and Queen's
Domain at its back. (Well, the Historic Hawthorn Hedge
sits immediately to the back!)
There
have been only three families living here since the house
was built - and now me. The gardens have been decimated
in size (but are still big) and have been ignored for
at least half a century. There are parts of the garden
it has taken me almost six months to hack my way through.
It was only in September 2005 I managed to discover the
far back corner of my property (terrifying a neighbour
hanging out her washing, who declared she's never seen
anyone emerge from that thicket in twenty-five years).
One
of the features of the house is its massive wrap around
verandah commanding the glorious views. The verandah was
in terrible shape when I moved in - almost utterly rotted
away - but is now nearing a complete restoration.
Eventually,
once I've had time to research the house and its inhabitants,
I'll be able to add to this page ... but for now, the
emphasis is on the garden.
