Breenhold Garden in Autumn

The Gardens

Breenhold Gardens, located at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, is just 2 hours’ drive west of Sydney, and comprises 45 hectares of luxuriant gardens, parkland and native bushland. It was created by the late Thomas Breen (Snr) and his wife Charlotte and its planting and landscaping commenced in 1965. Over the intervening 6 decades many thousands of exotic and indigenous trees and flowering shrubs have been planted, their origins representing every continent.

Northern hemisphere deciduous trees, including maples, beech, birch, oak and many varieties of pines and cedars, blend with native tree ferns and towering eucalypts. In Spring hundreds of flowering azaleas and rhododendrons, as well as Japanese cherry trees, magnolia and dogwood provide exotic colour and meld with the ever present background of the Australian bush. In Autumn many red maples stand out among the yellows, golds and ochres of the changing foliage of the surrounding trees.

Parrots, cockatoos, lyrebirds, whip birds, and honeyeaters, are just some of the many birds that enjoy the variety of food and habitat that Breenhold offers them. Their calls and birdsong are among the many reasons to visit.

Six individual stone walled gardens, “gardens within gardens”, several with pools, are focus points for the thousands of visitors who keep returning to Breenhold each year. There are extensive lawns for picnicking, and for children to play on. On the western and northern parts of the estate there are terraced bush trails and forest walks which contrast to the more formal gardens on the plateau above.

Breenhold’s several lookouts also afford stunning views over the adjoining Blue Mountains National Park.

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