We previously participated in a large open garden day with the now-dissolved Open Gardens Australia in 2014 when eight of Bickleigh Vale’s private gardens were open to the public.
In October 2019 we opened again - this time in conjunction with Open Gardens Victoria. Again, with eight of the villages private gardens open to the public.

​On behalf of the residents of Bickleigh Vale, we'd like to thank all those who visited us for our Open Gardens event - we hope you enjoyed Bickleigh Vale as much as we enjoyed hosting you.
Bickleigh Vale
​Bickleigh Vale Road, Mooroolbark (off Pembroke Road)
Sunday 13 October, 2019 
10.00am - 4.30pm

Open Gardens Victoria website: https://opengardensvictoria.org.au
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Edna Walling created an enchanted village for herself and her friends at Bickleigh Vale, and this special quality continues to influence succeeding owners as they work to keep the vision of her achievement alive for future generations.

Although the cottages have been adapted for modern needs, and the growth of trees and shrubs has altered the gardens, Bickleigh Vale remains the finest example of Walling's ability to achieve harmony between buildings and landscape.

​There were eight of the Bickleigh Vale properties open as part of OGV’s celebration of how past and present have been melded together in this unique community. They were:  
Related article: Sneak Peak: Discovering Bickleigh Vale
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Public Transport and Parking
Unfortunately, at that time, there were limited public transport options in the area on Sundays. The Mooroolbark railway station is 1.8km away (just over 20 minutes walk.) The bus from the station to Pembroke Road didn't run on Sundays so the only other ‘non-walking’ options were taxi or Uber from the station. or drive yourself.

As a result, we are expecting that most people would travel to Bickleigh Vale by car and park in nearby streets - and they did!

'Talks' on the day

Visitors often enjoy hearing about various aspects of Bickleigh Vale from those who live here so there were four 'talks' during the day:
  • 11am at Downderry, Maryann Sporon-Fiedler: Living in Bickleigh Vale
  • 12pm at Wimborne, Simon Scott: History of Bickleigh Val
  • 1pm at Sonningfield, Coral Cunningham: National Trust and significant trees
  • 2pm at Whistlewood, Susan Pepper: Wildlife of Bickleigh Vale