Open Season: Walking up the garden path

I weed and prune a tiny urban garden when time allows, and can't identify any plants by their Latin names. That labels me the occasional gardener.

But I'm full of admiration for the handiwork of talented green-fingered people, and I love meandering through rambling floral spaces and tranquil woodland surroundings.

Expansive gardens are restorative and peaceful, as I discovered on Sunday afternoon at Klein Optenhorst's open gardens in the Bovlei Valley beyond Wellington in Western Cape.

Naas and Jenny Ferreira's farm is always a treat. Jenny's gardening triumphs aside, the farm's open day is special because the whole family pitches in: she ropes in their two daughters, a couple of nieces and sisters (Jenny is one of seven) to make, bake or serve scones with jam, cream and tea.

The Ferreiras bought the farm in 1986 and added terraces, a shrubbery and a charming gazebo at the water's edge. The front garden is ordered, with neat lawns, elegant cypresses and a grand English oak shading woodland plants and numerous hydrangeas.

"The veggie garden on the left used to be a horse paddock for my daughter Jane," said Jenny. "Until she discovered boys."

You access the rest of the garden through a passage in the 19th-century dwelling filled with paintings and family portraits. A hand-written sign on the doorway announces "pink bubbles this way", leading you to where a few rows of pinot noir vines produce the farm's delicious Cap Classique.

Visitors generally congregate around a table on the veranda for views and warm scones. Some wander off to admire the 400-year-old wild olive tree or to watch darting sugarbirds.

Klein Optenhorst has one of the largest collections of salvias around, and Ferreira's talent is in combining pink ones named "hot lips" alongside old roses in deep purple velvet plushness in a calmly uninhibited way.

Children love it, too: races on Klein Optenhorst lawns vie for best activity status over splashing in the old leivoor, a water channel typically found in Cape country towns.

"In this heat," says Ferreira, "the sound of water cools us down."

• Klein Optenhorst's garden is open for one weekend every October and April www.kleinoptenhorst.com.

Dig This

Rustenberg Manor House Open Garden

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Stellenberg Open Gardens

One of Cape Town's best-known private gardens. Tea served . , Saturday and Sunday, 9.30am to 5.30pm. 021-761-2948

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Franschhoek Open Gardens

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