From Paris, from England to Africa to an Australian outback setting.

From her small flat in Paris and he from his bleak mining town in Yorkshire, onto Kenya. From out of Africa to Geraldton’s sunny shores Isabelle and Charlie settled and have created something unique and pristine in suburban Bluff Point.

Isabelle told their story, in her parisienne accent, as we drank coffee on the balcony overlooking the Indian Ocean.

“Basically we lived in the cities but always had a dream to live in the country. So we came to Geraldton which is as country as we could find that suits Charlies work. When we arrived in 1996 we wanted to live on a farm and have camels! We were married in Africa and had camels there.  But it was not practical to live out of town here then.  So we rented in and found this large block that only had one tree on it and the owner agreed to sell it. Then the planting started, Charlie propagated seedlings, I would water them by hand while raising a family. We planted stuff we liked, that spoke of our European heritage, like Wisteria. We tried lots of things and if it didn’t grow where we planted it we tried it somewhere else and it did. Julie gave us good advice and helped us thinking a bit about design and creating different zones. Some of the ideas we took and some we didn’t. Our main battle was the hard to beat couch grass so that was just awful. So that is why we got the chooks in the orchard so that is clear. The chooks around the citrus trees are good, the soil was too alkaline or something and the chook manure adjusted the PH I think? So we learned an awful lot, we planted what we loved and we had many success really and now our biggest job is to prune! Our garden has a history of a little bit of everything where we have been.”                                                                                                        

“Now that the trees and garden are grown, there is a micro environment.  We cannot tell if the Southerlies are blowing, unless I am on the balcony and look at the whitecaps on the sea. We have created a little ecosystem. When we first started there were few birds here, a cuckoo shrike and mudlarks, but now there are kingfishers and many other birds coming in.” Isabelle said.                                                                                          

They explained the house and how it came to be. They owner built it of all recyclable material that gives the place an older feel more grounded in history. Most of the material has a story, doors from a hotel inside what was on old Bank, with numbers still on them! Big beams from the old Cray factory that was demolished.  A four legged heavy bath tub from a friends back yard. They had always lived in old houses but didn’t find an old house in Geraldton with land. So they decided then to build an old house on their land!

As we strolled around the garden there were edible plants around and Isabelle said she kind of grazes as she gardens! Cape gooseberries, Mulberries and at another time would be figs and guava, tomatoes and vegies. I noticed one of her dogs was eating the ripe mulberries and she told me he was an abandoned dog they took in and it had learnt to survive the best way it could! There are different flowers all the year round and the bees that live in the hives down the back thrive on them. New Zealand spinach gives greens to the chooks in all seasons. Artichokes in summer and lots of herbs grow happily in their plots.

Charlie is interested in Community gardens and said that in England now where he was, you cannot get one of those allotments as there is a huge demand for them these days. I said I think Geraldton is heading that way as well.                                                                                                                                                            

They are now planning to sell this property to move soon to their dream farmland and Isabelle said she hopes what has been created here will stay for posterity.