Southern Highlands Homes and Gardens in Autumn

     

As I have mentioned over the last couple of weeks

I have been out and about almost every single day photographing and styling for my book and blog.

 Here are a few snippets of some of the lovely homes and gardens

that I have been photographing and some special people that I have been working with.

The beautiful house and garden above is the home of my 'new' friend Bee Smith Gilbert and her family.   Bee, who is also a stylist and blogger came into my studio last year when I first opened and we talked for hours (still do most days).  A couple of weeks ago Bee dropped in again and she was talking about her selection of jams 'Bee Bon Belle' that she makes and sells at her shop at Dirty Janes in Bowral and she said that she was about to pick some quinces .  Well...that was it!!  the beginning a beautiful friendship.  I said, Bee...let's do a shoot and I'll photograph you and your quince jelly - from the tree to the table.  When I arrived at her home to pick her up, I drove into her amazing old property and I said, forget the quinces today, I think I need to photograph your home and garden.  

The light was amazing as it flooded in through the french doors into her living room on a beautiful, beautiful Autumn morning.   There's more to come...Bee and I will be setting up a wonderful table setting next week and shooting it on her patio under her Japanese Maple tree, it's just about to change colour.

Bee's blog - "Bee Bon Belle"

A couple of days later we finally went off together to a gorgeous old farm in Berrima (above and below) to pick the quinces and to my delight the farm was gorgeous, old slab buildings, stone walls, lovely old trees and it also needed to be photographed.   Look at the all the wind flowers in front of the house and the colours of Autumn.  I have so much more to show you over the next couple of weeks on this property. 

  As well as the quinces I have been photographing and working with so many of our Autumn fruits and berries, so much so that when I came into my studio yesterday I had a fruit bug breakout.  I have been picking and styling still lifes with these beautiful fruits that I completely forgot to check them.  Every thing's fine now...

Last week I had a call from another friend, Real Estate agent Judy Fisk who called to say, Coty, come and have a look at a property that I have for sale in Robertson, it's just Divine and the view is breathtaking.  The owners of this home have lived here for over thirty years and it's hidden down a country lane on the edge of the town with views from the top of the Southern Highlands escarpment to the Coast.   I will share this story with you next week, it's fantastic!  The topiary garden is so pretty and there is a croquet lawn as well....The owner is an artist and what a wonderful place this is to create and paint.

Then one afternoon a couple of weeks ago I photographed a small home

filled to brim with old wares and antiques

. 

It's a stylists dream cottage......anything and everything you could possibly imagine is in this home,

 He is the one that the dealers drive to the Southern Highlands to buy their wares from.

 More to come soon on this home soon..............

Then back at my studio I have been working on some Autumn still life shots. 

It really is a magical time to collect things from the garden.  I have boxes of pines, baskets of leaves, sticks, raffia, feathers and more. 

It's a wonderful world that we live in........Mother Earth is an amazing

xx Coty

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Wonderful Wisteria and the delicious colour purple

I look at these gorgeous Wisteria flowers and they just make me want to create, create all sorts of things. Nature is amazing and as a designer and stylist I cannot tell how wonderful I feel when I am outdoors, especially when the flowers are blooming. My natural instinct is to cut the flowers and find some amazing vessel or vase and create a wonderful flower arrangement and then photograph it. Or to get out my drawing pad and design a gown or some costumes for the stage or use them "now" for a wonderful entrance for a wedding for someone special

My family home in Sydney where I grew up had a huge Wisteria vine growing up a tree in our front garden. This lovely figurine above belongs to my Mother and I remember decorating the Wisteria on the mantle in our living room next to her. It just looked gorgeous and I can still see it today. I think I did the same arrangement in the same vase every year as a young girl. I just copied my Mother's arrangement and I'm sure she did the same one as well each year.

The colours are perfect, the many different tones are perfect, they are perfect. I just want to paint them now. I just wished they stayed out for a little longer than a couple of weeks.

I am sharing this favourite flower of mine today with Susan's Outdoors Wednesday Party. Please pop over to Susan's blog to see more wonderful gardens at http://www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

Stop press: New Image .....I couldn't resist taking a photograph this morning, so I jumped out of my car in a busy street in Bowral and stole some Wisteria from some one's gorgeous garden just to photograph it in this old green glass comport. Oh dear, I hope no one recognised me!

and I have also joined in on Julia's Hooked on Fridays blog party, you should visit and see this cute little cottage that she is posting today and all the gorgeous other blogger stories.

Click on my image below to go to my Styling Blog to see my latest post on

beautiful pale blue china and vintage objects.

High on a hill in Burrawang

There is something about a country home that is good for the soul, especially one that sits high on a hill overlooking the countryside. I am delighted to show you this beautiful home and garden in Burrawang, a little town in the Southern Highlands. Designed and built by two very creative friends of mine sixteen years ago when their first of three daughters was born.

The misty views across the surrounding properties to the lake in the distance are breathtaking. This very stylish two story home is really a perfect place to live, within walking distance to town, only two hours drive to Sydney and one hour to the coast. The buildings have been positioned well on the land, with a long driveway leading up to the main house, then another guest house further up the hill with large entertaining rooms surrounded by a long veranda. Gosh, am I starting to sound like a real estate person........

What I do love about this home is the garden is simply just beautiful green lawns, topiary trees and lots and lots of white flowers throughout the year. The stone slabs have weathered and settled into the hill, the trees surrounding the house are now well established and each year there are more and more white flowers. They are so lucky to wake each day to such a delightful surrounding.

Imagine the weddings in years to come, ooooh aaaah, perfect.

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