DIGGERS GOING STRONGER THAN EVER Heronsw Unless you were told about the recent fire at Heronswood, you wouldn t even know it had taken place.
Sure the gorgeous thatch roof building which was home to their Cafeis no longer there, but everything else remains as magnificent as ever.
Within days of the fire, a new cafe was set up on the pool lawn offering access to apart of the property usually restricted for private use.
This large marquee with indoorand outdoor seating continues to provide their famous scones, refreshments and a lightseasonal luncheon menu with produce picked straight from their famous gardens.
The Blazey family and their staff have shown amazing resilience in the face of adversityand want to let everyone know they are well and truly open for business and lookingforward to lots more visitors during the coming months.
The Blazey familyand start of Diggers....
The Diggers Club was started by Clive and PennyBlazey family in 1978 to enable supply of unusualplants heirloom seeds by mail order to passionategardeners around Australia.
With the club growing very quickly, 5 years later in 1983, they moved their young family to the historic Heronswood propertywith the intention to create gardens as livingcatalogues of Diggers plants ideas.
Starting in an old tin shed, their purpose wasto rescue the wonderful heirloom varieties of vegetables which seemed to be disappearing fromour food supply.
They set up mail order distributionand continually campaigned to increase the growingof food in our own backyards.
The Diggers Club isnow one of the largest garden clubs in Australia and Clive still actively promotes awareness on topicsrelating to climate change, genetically modified foodand organic gardening principles.
Clive is a true Peninsula legend having gained thisstatus in 2011 from the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival for his work as an educator and preserver ofdiversity with heirloom seeds.
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Autumn 2014 He has also been awarded Producer of the Year by Gourmet Traveller for his work in promoting heirloom seed varieties.
As well as helping Clive run the successful nurseryand Diggers Club, Penny Blazey has campaignedfor many causes over the years and in 2005 wasrecognised on The Victorian Honour Roll of Women for her outstanding individual contribution inour community.
Actively involved in preservingthe environmental heritage and sustainability ofthe Mornington Peninsula, she assisted with theelevation of Point Nepean to National Park statusand the recognition of indigenous heritage in themany walking tracks of Arthur s Seat.
Fundraising open days at Heronswood havebeen donated to women s support organisations in Victoria and also assisted the establishment of women s groups and small businesses in Los Palos in East Timor.
To ensure the continuation of over 34 years of hard work, Clive and Penny gifted ownership of theirgarden company along with their family-ownedproperties Heronswood and St Erth to the garden andenvironment Trust they established in 2011.
We wanted to ensure that the things that we ve championed such as supporting the use of heirloomseeds and sustainable gardening methods and astrong voice against genetically modified andhybridised plants and seeds would continue.
The only way to achieve this was to bequeath theproperties and garden business to the Trust to be owned by a not-for-profit charity Clive explains.
The thatch roof buildingand unexpected fire.....
In 1996, their environmentally conscious thatchroof building was completed with all membersof the family being involved in either design orconstruction.
Clive and Penny s son built the rammed earth walls from gravel sourced fromDromana quarry, reeds from Tootgarook swamp were sourced for the thatch roof from land that Penny s family owned and both daughters assisted with the design and construction of the restaurantand kitchen.
This amazing construction had thelowest carbon footprint on the Peninsula withfire retardant chemicals and a sprinkler systemincorporated in the roof design.
It seems fitting then that one of the last meals servedin Fork to Fork restaurant in this thatch roof buildingwas shared by the Blazey family just hours beforefire engulfed and destroyed the entire construction.
My family and all their children were here at thetime and we had a lovely lunch together.
I then went down for a walk on Sorrento beach and had the call from Talei that the thatch was on fire.
It happenedso quickly, we didn t even have time to put the sprinklers on says Clive.
The fact that less than 2 of the Heronswood gardenwas affected during this fire is testament to the messages that Clive and Penny have been promotingfor many years.
Most of our garden has rainforest evergreens which are fire retardant trees.
As we ve always said, planting arid plants and inflammable eucalypts neardomestic buildings is not a good idea says Clive.
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