Welcome to Bickleigh Vale Village
|
Edna’s legacy lives on in The Place, The Heritage and The Community that is Bickleigh Vale Village. We have created this website to share some of the stories, the history and activities, both past and present, that make the village a unique and special place. It started with Edna Walling's vision back in the 1920s when she embarked on her ambitious project to build the original cottages reminiscent of her English childhood in Devon.
Please explore this website to learn more About Us or about the individual cottages and Properties of Bickleigh Vale. 
Private PropertiesBickleigh Vale Village is home to 17 heritage listed properties and 31 properties in total bordered by Pembroke, Cardigan and Pine Roads in Mooroolbark.
If you visit us to stroll along Bickleigh Vale or Edna Walling lanes please remember to park your car in Pembroke Road. THERE IS NO PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE GARDENS however we do open for garden groups and Open Garden events from time to time. If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us though our "Contact Us page"
(...unless it is about arranging a garden visit for groups of 10 or more in which case, please use the 'Contact Us for Visits' button below)
|
Our Quick Find Index will show you at a glance what we have on our website and take you straight to the topic you are interested in.
Residents only:
Recently Updated Pages:
|
Garden Visits and Open Garden Events
Most residents of Bickleigh Vale Village share a common interest in continuing the legacy of Edna Walling and ensuring her vision survives and thrives into the future. With this is an interest to share our beautiful village when we can however most of us maintain our gardens on own. We have found hosting an Open Garden event together with Open Gardens Scheme every fiver years balances the time and financial costs of preparation of the gardens and keeping the event a bit special for all. Our last Open Gardens Victoria event was in October 2024, and we anticipate our next event will be in 2029.
|
Occasionally however, we can cater for small groups. We can't always accommodate small group requests but to enquire about a visit to Bickleigh Vale for groups of 10 or more, please use the contact form here.
(If your group is less than 10 persons, please reach out via our general Contact page)
|
Accessibility
Please remember our gardens are a little wild and consider if accessibility is a concern for you. In true Edna Walling style, the gardens are filled with uneven surfaces, often narrow, paths and stone steps. However, most gardens are at least 50% accessible by wheelchair, and you can experience the ambience and feel of Edna’s vision when mobility is limited. Our visitors often remark that sitting back with a cup of tea and soaking in the fine trees, or the sound of the kookaburras and the quiet in suburbia is to embrace the magic of Bickleigh Vale.
Please remember our gardens are a little wild and consider if accessibility is a concern for you. In true Edna Walling style, the gardens are filled with uneven surfaces, often narrow, paths and stone steps. However, most gardens are at least 50% accessible by wheelchair, and you can experience the ambience and feel of Edna’s vision when mobility is limited. Our visitors often remark that sitting back with a cup of tea and soaking in the fine trees, or the sound of the kookaburras and the quiet in suburbia is to embrace the magic of Bickleigh Vale.
Donations
We love to share Edna’s village with visitors but rely upon donations and garden events to fund our Village projects. Donations from garden visitors will be used to plant and maintain our common areas and along the roadside. A suggested donation by garden visitors of $15 per person will be to the Bickleigh Vale Village Roadside Maintenance fund. Please refer to the Roadside Maintenance Plan here if you would like more information.
We love to share Edna’s village with visitors but rely upon donations and garden events to fund our Village projects. Donations from garden visitors will be used to plant and maintain our common areas and along the roadside. A suggested donation by garden visitors of $15 per person will be to the Bickleigh Vale Village Roadside Maintenance fund. Please refer to the Roadside Maintenance Plan here if you would like more information.
|
Open Garden Events
During the most recent village Open Garden event in October 2024, we had eight of Bickleigh Vale’s private gardens open to the public in conjunction with Open Gardens Victoria. |
|
|
You're also welcome to join our Facebook group which we regularly post info about public garden openings for individuals, small groups and further details of our Open Garden day with Open Gardens Victoria.
|
The mysterious power pole.....
|
Maintaining the gardens at Bickleigh Vale can sometimes feel like you are on an archeological dig. Stone paths can suddenly appear from beneath the growth (take a look at Whistlewood's blog for their latest discovery). Then there are the trees, structures or events around which the current residents are not aware of why they exist, who put them there or when. The history has been lost. For example, every day we walk past a seat and an old power pole. No-one knew who installed the seat or why the power pole remained after the power and telecom lines were placed under-ground. That was until we were provided with some minutes and correspondence from a resident's meeting in early 1990. The pole was left behind by Telecom after completion of the project. The residents at the time discussed raising it with Telecom, however, it was noted that, due to an 'invoicing problem', the Garden Scheme had never been invoiced by Telecom for their portion of the costs associated with the project - a sizeable sum in 1990. So they kept quiet! But, why the words 'Beauty in Australia is like pearls before the swine' has been painted on what is left of the pole remained a mystery until we had a story-telling evening with Brian and Brigitte McKeever recently. We'll retell the story here shortly! |
|
The stone seat
The seat was installed by the Victoria's Garden Scheme in 1991 to commemorate the under-grounding of power and telephone services in 1990. It was meant to have a bronze plaque attached so future generations would know why it was placed there, however, it was removed after a spelling mistake was discovered and never replaced.
Over the years, time – and two construction material trucks crashing into it – had taken its toll. The timber benchtop was badly rotting at one end and had become completely detached from the stone pillars so it was not really safe any more. Using a couple of old hardwood railway sleepers and some brackets, landscaping glue, screws and mortar last week, the seat top was rebuilt in June 2022 ready for the next thirty years!
Over the years, time – and two construction material trucks crashing into it – had taken its toll. The timber benchtop was badly rotting at one end and had become completely detached from the stone pillars so it was not really safe any more. Using a couple of old hardwood railway sleepers and some brackets, landscaping glue, screws and mortar last week, the seat top was rebuilt in June 2022 ready for the next thirty years!
|
|
How you can help us document the history of Bickleigh Vale Village
Do you have photos, a story, video or other material about the village? If you or your relatives have lived at Bickleigh Vale or spent time here, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us to be a part of capturing the history of this wonderful village for future generations.
Do you have photos, a story, video or other material about the village? If you or your relatives have lived at Bickleigh Vale or spent time here, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us to be a part of capturing the history of this wonderful village for future generations.
The PlaceRecognised by The National Trust and declared a “Classified” Landscape, Bickleigh Vale is also recognised as “an area of special significance” by the Yarra Ranges Council.
|
Image courtesy of State Library Victoria
Edna's VisionIn the 1920’s, still in her mid-twenties, one of Australia’s first landscape designers, the English born Edna Walling, created a village in the ‘English style’ of approximately 12 ha around her own residence ‘Sonning’.
Prospective owners were required to agree to Edna Walling’s involvement in the design of their cottages and gardens, with all plants supplied from her nursery at ‘Sonning’. Contact Us for VisitsToday, more than 90 years later, Edna's vision continues to be realised through a community of like-minded people. |
The CommunityWhen Edna Walling left Bickleigh Vale in 1967 and moved to Buderim, Queensland, property owners – now ‘Friends of Edna Walling’ – became caretakers of the village, including its roadside verges.
Bickleigh Vale today is a thriving village community within suburban Melbourne |