An exciting development taking place in the grounds of the Brain Watkins House & Museum property is the topic of today's Tauranga Historical Society's monthly meeting.

This year the Tauranga Historical Society is participating in the 2022 Garden and Art Festival, and the society's secretary John Coster will be talking about this at the meeting at 2pm.

Each year the Bay of Plenty Garden & Art Festival organisers like to install permanent legacy gardens that people can visit after the festival is over. Six were created in 2018 at Tauranga Historic Village, including a hanging tree garden. In 2020, three new gardens were put in place at Tauranga Racecourse, and again in 2022 another three will be installed at the racecourse venue.

'Over a period of years, these Legacy Gardens will eventually develop into a 360-day trail,” says festival director Marc Anderson.

This year, as well as gardens created by Tony Dawson at the Bloom in the Bay location, the festival is shining a spotlight on the Brain Watkins House garden which dates back to the early 1880s. The plan is to return it to some degree of its former glory as an acknowledgement back to the community from the festival.

'On behalf of our gardeners, we have donated some money to Brain Watkins House. Tauranga landscape architect Nicola Vague from Zones Landscaping has created a design that will be ready for the festival,” says Marc.

'She is upgrading their garden to be in keeping with the original style and it will be restored for the festival.”

Brain Watkins House. Photo; Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

John Coster will talk about the development of the Brain Watkins House garden on Sunday November 6, with photos from the 1890s to the 1990s, illustrating the changes that have taken place to the property over the last century and identifying the remaining original plantings.

John is a heritage consultant and archaeologist, currently secretary of the Tauranga Historical Society.

Brain Watkins House Museum is owned and managed by the Tauranga Historical Society, whose volunteers maintain the house as a museum and open it to the public each Sunday from 2-4pm.

Tauranga Historical Society talks are open to all. The $2 door charge includes afternoon tea and a chance to network with others that share a passion for history.

The meeting is being held at 2pm, Sunday November 6, at Brain Watkins House hall, 233 Cameron Road, Tauranga.