Little Steading

Little Steading, a serene cottage garden in the gentle hills of the Flinders hinterland, opens to the public for the first time as part of Open Gardens Victoria’s spring program. With sweeping rural views across Westernport Bay to Seal Rocks, the garden offers a vibrant tapestry of colour, texture and seasonal change.

Created just three years ago by landscape designer Robert Boden, the garden surrounds a 1930s weatherboard cottage beautifully renovated by architect Stephen Akehurst. Blending structure with softness, the garden complements its natural setting on the edge of Main Ridge Nature Reserve.

Spring is Little Steading’s most captivating season, when daffodils and bluebells grow beneath a birch copse, meadow flowers drift through the lawn, and quince trees shade a quiet seat with views to distant gums. Mature ash, blackbutt, and viburnum trees provide a strong framework, while hydrangeas, camellias, and Itoh peonies add seasonal charm.

Visitors will also discover a tranquil pool garden edged in Castlemaine slate, a glasshouse filled with gardenias, raised herb beds, and a clematis-draped pergola. Described by owner Jenny Lempriere as a “wild cottage garden with formal elements”, Little Steading invites slow wandering, surprise, and quiet connection with nature.

Tickets are available online via TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1410028

Little Steading is located on the lands of the Bunorong People. Open Gardens Victoria wish to acknowledge the Traditional custodians of this land and we pay respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging.