One garden that showed for the first time in 2018 and is again on display is another offering B&B accommodation. Haven on Barkers is a rambling garden combining native and European plantings. Situated along the Midland Highway at Barkers Creek, the garden lines the creek that in times of consistent rain can threaten its very existence, but the old eucalypts stand firm while the house garden is safe, set on a rise well above any invasive waters. Also at Barkers Creek are two festival favourites. Next-door neighbours Hedgehogs and Lixouri are a must for visitors, many of whom come time and time again, festival after festival, to enjoy them once more and to see what changes have been made, what has bloomed and what has not. They will open both weekends of this festival, but will be closed to visitors during the week. A little further out of town are three quite different gardens, each an easy 10-15-minute drive from Castlemaine: Antares Iron Art Garden and East Meets West at Laceys in Newstead, and Forest Edge at Muckleford. Antares Iron Art Garden is a completely different kind of garden. Not so much a display of plants, but of art and sculptures constructed from thousands of items of repurposed metal – old tools, axe heads, rusting machinery, wire and tin. Here, Roger McKindley lives in an off-grid old farm cottage surrounded by the most imaginative collection of old iron arranged in the most surprising ways. This garden was featured on Gardening Australia and will delight as much as it surprises. East Meets West, in the small township of Newstead, is an eclectic array of exotic plants, bonsai displays, sculptures and garden enclosures with an Eastern influence. At Muckleford, a little off the well-worn track but well worth the diversion, is the charming rural garden named Forest Edge. Sprawling over a large farmhouse property, it features garden
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