By Melissa Walsh Photos Yanni
W
hen Nick Smith was driving home from his parents' holiday house in Sorrento 20 years ago, a simple decision to take the scenic route through Red Hill would eventually change the course of his life. A successful entrepreneur and the son of TV and radio announcer Pete Smith, Nick spotted a small ‘For Sale’ sign at the bottom of the street and took a detour up to the top of the hill where he saw the 55 acre property that he would buy three days later. Two decades on, Nick has created possibly the largest private garden in the state with Panorama Wildlife Sanctuary and Secret Garden; a sprawling property with over 25 acres of gardens and panoramic views for over 100 kilometres looking out across both Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay. “ I always enjoyed landscaping and I started building gardens down here for the fun of it. Now I am up to 19 gardens so have created about a garden a year,” said Nick, who was first introduced to gardening by his grandfather, and had a brief stint as a lawn mower man after getting kicked out of uni as a young guy. “I got into sales not long after that and have spent many years building and selling companies which is a high pressure career. Gardening is the complete opposite and has been a great way to keep grounded.” As you wander around the estate, it’s hard to believe it began as a cattle farm with nothing but a tin shed. Nick’s idea to build a couple of gardens has culminated into 19 distinct gardens that are still growing, and a wildlife sanctuary that protects the local fauna. “When I first got here, the place had nothing. There were wire fences and a shed and that’s it. Straight away, I started coming down here four days a week and lost interest in the business side of things. The first thing we did was clear the dead wood form the property, put in four kilometers of post and rail fencing, and after five years I decided to live down here full time,” said Nick. “The first garden I built was the creek I had always wanted a farm on a creek so built 300 metres of it with 800 tree ferns. Funny thing is that was the main attraction and now it is the last thing people continued next page...
E ssence
26 | PENINSULA
September 2017