Helen Hayes has always been a keen gardener but a busy corporate career kept her from creating something on the scale befitting her imagination. 

But with retirement came the opportunity to realise her dreams in the rich volcanic soil of the Central Highlands. And recently the fruits of her labours at Musk Manor has captured the attention of other gardening enthusiasts.

Just recently she had a film crew spend 10 hours at her property gathering footage for an appearance on a future episode of the ABC’s ‘Gardening Australia’. 

“I’d expect that I would have been a very unlikely candidate to be a gardener earlier on in my life,” says Helen.

“I worked 12 hour days pretty much seven days a week and I would have had to get up at 5am before I went off to work at 7 to get anything done.” 

Before relocating to Musk and starting on her garden Helen was an internationally recognised leader in business development and information management. She successfully coached and mentored senior executives for many years and was highly regarded as a trusted advisor and executive coach.

In 1999 Helen was recognised as the Victorian and Australian Telstra Business Woman of the Year and later worked at the executive level in universities in Australia and Scotland. That left very little time for creating a garden. 

But in 2017 Helen and her partner Michael came to the area to have a look at an old farm house in Musk. It sat on just over a hectare of land with a wonderful view north over the Wombat Forest and she sensed the potential to create a spectacular garden. 

“I saw the land and the 100-year-old barn and thought, ‘this is definitely it, I’ve got to move in here, I’ve got to make my garden here, I thought this will give me a reason to retire, I’ll have a project. It will be a big project but I’ll still do it’.” 

And now, seven years later the transformation of the site has been spectacular. At first there was very little when they moved in. Just an empty paddock save for a couple of established trees. Helen began with the preparation that needed to be done. 

She divided the area into 13 different sections and tackled one at a time until it was done. That task alone took six to eight months and filled 14 skips with weeds before anything was planted at all. 

Today, the place is a wonderful collage of trees and scrubs, evergreens and perennials. Gravel paths wend between beds of flowers of all sizes and colours and sumptuous lawns have replaced the dusty fields of 2017. 

Birds dart in and around a gorgeous array of native and non-native plants and bees and butterflies feast on nectar. Helen describes how she approached the arrangement. 

“The plants have been chosen for their attraction to bees, birds and butterflies.” Helen says. “Each area has a predominant colour. The two gardens on the fence line are mainly yellow so I have leucadendrons but also forsythia, buddleia, grevillea and hypericum in the yellow garden. 

“In the orange garden I have a long-flowering rise called ashram. I have mixed orange with deep purple plants. The plants that thrive in the garden are daphne, rhododendrons and camellias – mostly Bob Hope and black tie as I like the red against the dark green foliage. 

“I have added two hedges of plantation pink sasanqua camellias. My favourite trees are maples for their colour, particularly Autumn Moon. Autumn is my favourite time and the oaks, crab apples and red-stemmed maples are favourites. I have a special favourite that is a Himalayan strawberry tree. 

“Of the small plants, I love daylilies at this time of year and peonies although they are short lived. I have a lot of irises, especially midnight blue. Miniature irises border the yellow garden and a purple and blue mix border the main garden.” 

Like all labours of love, the work is never completed, it just evolves and Helen continues to work on developing her little patch of paradise and is looking forward to having another open garden day.

“I have had it open twice so far for fundraising events, once for the Musk CFA and then for the Spa Country Railway,” Helen says.

“I will do it again for the CFA next year. I like people to be able to come and walk around and enjoy what’s been created here.”

Words & main image: Tony Sawrey

The first day of the 2024 Royal Melbourne Show was a great day for Musk’s Oberon Suffolk Stud.

Owned by Bruce Rolfe (pictured) and Douglas Scott, Oberon Stud took away multiple awards for Oberon 3039 aka Gloria.   

The young animal, who lives with her flock on Bruce and Doug’s farm in Musk, won Supreme Champion Suffolk, Champion Suffolk Ewe, Interbreed Champion Ewe and Interbreed Champion Shortwool Ewe.   

“Suffice to say we are ecstatic to have been awarded the Supreme Champion Suffolk award for one of our ewes,” says Bruce.   

“It is a lot of work, particularly in the cold climate that we live in, to get sheep to this standard.

“But our efforts over the past years seem to be being recognised. Love, good pastures enriched with organic fertilisers and bio-dynamic preparations plus the time invested in improving our robust genetics has been well rewarded this year with success across the show seasons.”  

Bruce and Doug have great affection and respect for their champion ewe and all their sheep and love how they respond to their constant work and attention.   

The next steps will be to continue developing their award-winning genetics into the future.

“We are currently considering where we go next for the sire to use with Gloria,” says Bruce.

“He has to be special.”   

Gloria first featured in the July 18 edition of The Local.   

Words: Tony Sawrey | Image: Supplied   

Last month’s Musk open gardens event has raised thousands of dollars for the Musk CFA.

Event coordinator Duncan Evans says it raised $13,500 and achieved the main goal of purchasing a
thermal imaging camera.

While there had been many cancellations due to the prior Daylesford accident on November 5, Duncan said the open gardens fundraiser had still been a success.

Many made a full day of it, lunching in the featured gardens of Musk Manor and neighbouring Musk Farm, and catching the train out from Daylesford.

Duncan said after expenses, $2200 will go to the Spa Country Railway and $8100 to the CFA. Organisers say they are particularly grateful to the owners of the two featured gardens and to the many local businesses and sponsors who supported the event.

Musk Farm owner Cathy Ai, (pictured above right) with Musk Manor owner Helen Hayes, said she had loved seeing others enjoy the beautiful garden at Musk Farm.

A comparative newcomer to gardening, Cathy admits there were nerves in the lead-up to this year’s
open garden event.

“I was very nervous before the open garden but next time I should be fully prepared,” says Cathy. “It’s a big challenge but I’m really keen to learn.”

Duncan’s thoughts are now turning to coordinating another community fundraising event in 2024.

He expects the next one will again feature either an open garden or two – or an online art auction. “And it will probably raise funds for a local wildlife facility,” he said. Words: Eve Lamb | Image: Kyle Barnes

Words and Image: Eve Lamb

Two of the region’s premier gardens are preparing to open their gates to visitors for a fundraising picnic day on Saturday, November 18.
Famed Musk Farm garden and neighbouring Musk Manor garden, located within cooee of each other, are opening as a fundraiser to support the Musk CFA.
Famed Musk Farm is the iconic garden developed by the late Stuart Rattle and features 15 “garden rooms” inspired by the grand estates of France and England.
Across the road, Musk Manor garden is opening to the public for the second time and the garden’s creator and resident owner, Helen Hayes, will be on site for the event, as will her part-time gardener Clare Dynon.
It’s hard to believe, but true, that Helen and her husband Michael Lynn have only owned this impressive garden for the past six-and-a-bit years.
In that time resident green thumb Helen has set about cultivating the site into something to delight garden lovers and local birdlife alike.
“The whole bottom of the garden was just empty and weed infested and we pretty much started from scratch,” she says.
But it was the intrinsic garden potential of the site that clinched their purchasing the property from the outset, Helen says.
Now the continual evolution of the Musk Manor garden is an ongoing labour of love for this passionate gardener whose plant choices are often informed by her wish to cater to the needs of local bird and insect life.
“I definitely work in this garden six days a week now,” says Helen who is a former University of Melbourne librarian and also a former Australian Businesswoman of the Year, with a background in the corporate and government sectors.
Coordinator of the upcoming Musk Open Gardens, Duncan Evans says visitors are encouraged to pack a picnic rug and catch the tourist railway out from Daylesford to reach the gardens – for several good reasons.
One of these is to avoid potential parking issues that emerged when the Musk gardens opened last year and the event drew some 500 visitors.
While limited parking will be available, Duncan says another good reason to jump aboard the tourist train is simply to support this local tourist attraction and enjoy what it has to offer.
“Last year we had a lot of people from Melbourne who said they loved catching the train, and a lot of children who really loved it,” Helen says.
Duncan also says a good array of food and specialty beverage stalls will be on site on the day selling refreshments including coffee, gin and wine.
Visitors can even pre-order a gourmet lunch box via the event’s dedicated website at muskopengardens.com.au and are encouraged to purchase food on site, although you can also pack a picnic hamper.
There will also be a silent auction and some attractive raffle prizes up for grabs. A main aim, Duncan says, is to have visitors make a real day of it, stay and have lunch on site and really soak in the two gardens’ beauty.
“For garden lovers it’s a fantastic opportunity to see two of the region’s premier gardens,” he says.
Plant sales will be an added attraction and Helen says plants on offer at Musk Manor are likely to include hellebores, irises, hebes, Christmas lilies and “a lot of bulbs”.
“The irises will be looking brilliant at that time of the year,” she says.
“And last year people really loved the peonies and the oriental poppies.”
“I think it’s a garden for using. I love to see people just enjoying sitting on the lawn and having a picnic. It’s a beautiful time of year.”

Two of Musk’s most beautiful gardens will open to visitors as part of Daylesford Spa Country Railway’s special fundraising run day next month.

On Saturday, November 12 the Daylesford Spa Country Railway will run trains from Daylesford to Musk, departing every half hour from 9.30am to 3.30pm with the $30 per person ticket including visits to both Musk Farm and Musk Manor gardens.

The event will also feature music, plant sales, refreshments and ticket prizes with all proceeds supporting the railway and accompanying children under 18 years free of charge.

Musk is known for its gardens with the soil ideal for planting and the surrounding forest and hills provide the perfect landscape. Musk Farm is an iconic garden that was developed by the late Stuart Rattle and has been loved by succeeding gardeners. Its many garden rooms are a delight for visitors as each offers another style and perspective on gardening from the picking areas surrounding the lovely renovated schoolhouse to the forest garden at the eastern end of the property.

Musk Manor is a young garden set in 2½ acres amid older trees. The garden has recently been developed to be a haven for birds, bees and butterflies. There are many flowering shrubs in the large garden areas, each of which have their own predominant palette. Attention has been paid to colour and scent. Many bird species can be seen in the garden over the spring and summer.

NB: There is no parking on site at Musk. Entry to the gardens can only be obtained via park and ride from Daylesford station