POSTED 21 FEBRUARY 2024

Background

Mary and Nick Anargyros come from a successful hospitality background. In 2009 they reopened ‘Café Y’ at Chateau Yaldara and turned it into a very successful venture. In late 2014 the entire estate was purchased by Chinese investors who also bought out our lease with the intention of doing their own thing.

In 2015 Mary and Nick purchased the lease on La Bueono Vita restaurant in Tanunda, gutted it and after totally renovating, they renamed it ‘The Terrace’. ‘The Terrace’ was sold in 2019. Sure that their hospitality days were over Mary and Nick retired. Knowing by this time they had fallen in love with the Barossa they sold their Adelaide properties and now live permanently in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.

The rest of course is history!

MARY AND NICK
ANARGYROS

EDEN VALLEY, THE BAROSSA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

In their own words…..

We decided that when we retired, we would live in a quiet country village, away from the madness of city living. We bought a half-acre block in the centre of Eden Valley in the Barossa. My wife Mary wanted an English garden, and I wanted a produce garden, honouring my dad, who was happiest tilling the soil. The block was skinny and long, 22.54m wide x 90m deep and rising from the road on a grade of 10%. 30m up was an impressive rocky outcrop.

Above it, an old rusty iron shed and an overgrown old orchard. Across the back wire fence, two impressive pepper trees grew with branches reaching the ground. We decided to ‘listen’ to the land for direction. The portion below the rocky outcrop was destined to be Mary’s garden, and the back portion was mine. We replaced the old shed with a 15m x 9m wide new one, and this houses our large caravan and Toyota Landcruiser towing vehicle.

We bought an excavator with which we’ve dug up stone for retaining walls and shaping driveways, paths, and lawn area. At the rear of the shed, up on a plateau sit 3 x 22,500 litre water tanks and on the roof of the shed is a 15kw solar system….read on

THE GOLDEN GATE
10°C COOLER, OUR GARDEN HAS MULTIPLE TERROIRS ENABLING GREAT DIVERSITY OF PLANTING 
HYDRANGEAS, SO UNSUITABLE FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE FLOURISH IN OUR COOL SHADED AREAS
FOR MARY AND I LOOKING AT BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES OF OUR GARDEN IS INCREDIBLY REWARDING. A HUGE AMOUNT OF HARD WORK, BUT THE OUTCOME SO VERY SATISFYING.

A GLORIOUS GARDEN

IN HOTTER PARTS OF OUR GARDEN AUSTRALIAN NATIVES FLOURISH AND THE ABUNDANCE OF BIRD LIFE IS WONDERFUL

We haven’t paid for electricity since we moved in at the end of January 2020, but sadly, we aren’t self-sufficient with water. We know there’s plenty of water underground, so we’ll explore this. Corporate lawyers are now in charge of Councils, and it’s taken us 13 months to get a simple 2-bedroom cottage approved, to be constructed towards the rear of the block where we have glorious views over the valley. Eden Valley is susceptible to frost in winter, so we can forget hibiscus and such. Over the last 4 years, we have slowly purchased and planted a wide variety of trees, shrubs, bulbs, and ornamentals, mainly perennials that please Mary and that pleases me.

A SMALL PART OF OUR BLANK CANVAS AND BELOW WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WHEN YOU TAKE GUIDANCE FROM THE EXISITING LANDSCAPE
A NOW GLORIOUS CASCADING ROCKERY FULL OF COLOUR AND LIFE
A NOD TO THE HISTORY OF OUR BLOCK
AND THE EARLY SETTLERS

We have created a terrace under the century old Mulberry tree [pictured at the top] and a circular driveway with a raised circular lawn and surrounding garden giving us access to the backyard. Here, I’ve planted two orchards of twenty six fruit trees, including stone fruit, citrus, apple, pear, pomegranate, quince, astringent persimmon, mulberry, mango, seedless grapes etc.

Currently we are picking tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, globe artichoke, spring onion, beetroot, spinach and silverbeet, strawberry, blackberry, Cape gooseberries, coriander, parsley, basil, bay, lavender, mint, sage, and Greek oregano. With the first lot of rains, I will harvest our Kipfler potatoes and plant garlic. Once we start caravanning again, I’ll be able to monitor the watering via our Wifi controlled eight station watering system and Pete our next door neighbour will keep the lawn neat and trimmed and in return he will keep whatever produce is available.

We love living here, and our garden keeps us active, vital, and happy.

Nick and Mary Anargyros

THE JOY AND ABUNDANCE OF SUMMER PRODUCE

amazingly
just FOUR
YEARS
IN THE
MAKING

FOR OUR ANNUAL FOOD CROPS WE MAINLY GROW FROM SEED
OUR FLOURISHING ORCHARD ABUNDANT WITH OLD VARIETIES OF STONE FRUIT, AND OF COURSE EVERY GREEK GARDENER HAS TO HAVE SEVERAL VARIETIES OF FIG TREES
THROUGHOUT THE GARDEN WE HAVE A NUMBER OF URNS ANOTHER NOD TO OUR GREEK HERITAGE

"

beginnings

something
from my dad

If you’re searching for miracles, you’ll find them in your garden

ABOUT

We have 42 years history at the highest level
in the food and wine industry and the passion for our craft remains undiminished…
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