Starting out as a dusty horse paddock, Ampelon in south-western New South Wales is now a private oasis among vineyards and citrus orchards.
Story By Nathan Dyer
A stone’s throw from the mighty Murray River, Margot and Dennis Mills’ Ampelon garden at Gol Gol, NSW, is a triumph of green design. Surrounded by the Sunraysia’s vast patchwork of vineyards and orchards, Ampelon has grown over four decades from three bare pony paddocks into two sprawling hectares of seamlessly connected green zones.
Home to the Mills family since 1959, when the area was converted from Crown land into fruit blocks, Ampelon has steadily metamorphosed from a box-covered riverflat. “I didn’t know much about gardens when I started, but you learn as you progress,” Margot says, looking out over a large plane tree and camphor laurel in the house garden.
This story excerpt is from Issue #106
Outback Magazine: Apr/May 2016
