Barrydale is set to bloom with gusto after the abundant rain and snow this year. Indulge in your gardening passion and come visit the weekend of 18 to 20 October where the whole family will be entertained with talks, tips, tours, hikes and walks through some of the magical Klein Karoo veld and gardens. A weekend of gardening fun to benefit Barrydale Hospice, our chosen charity.
As this is our 11th year of Barrydale in Bloom we have extended the program with activities during the week prior to the festival, starting on Monday 14 October. You can learn new tricks in the kitchen with cooking demonstrations from local foodies or boost your creativity with a 3-day flower art workshop at our famous Magpie Art Collective. Come celebrate Klein Karoo beauty with us!
The main festivities of Barrydale in Bloom will be at Karoolkie farm in the middle of Barrydale.
* One of the vibrant paintings of local artist Michelle Berry, The Garden, is used in this year’s Barrydale in Bloom design. The painting will be auctioned at the Forage and Feast gala dinner on Friday night. @berry.brushstrokes
The Speakers
Featured Industry Experts
Karoolkie Farm
The gala dinner Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday’s bustling garden market, tea garden and speaker activities will be hosted at the spectacular stone cellar on this six hectare jewel at the heart of Barrydale. All the buildings on the farm were designed by famed environmental architect Ettienne Bruwer. The farm’s olive orchard are being transformed into large medicinal and tea gardens. There will be a guided tour of the gardens and the essential oil distillery over the weekend. @yamubotanicals
Kamala Karoo Sanctuary
This luxury wellness retreat is the vision and dream of Terry de Vries. Architect Johann Slee helped her to manifest this dream. The open plan magazine featured kitchen will be the setting for the cooking demonstrations during the week prior to the weekend festival. The exquisite garden boasts a rose mandala with 134 rose bushes. Rose expert Marie-Noëlle Favard, will do a talk and practical in this garden on Sunday morning. @terrykamala
Magpie Art Collective
Magpie Art Collective was founded by Scott Hart and Shane Petzer in 1998, in Observatory, Cape Town, but flew the coop and nested in Barrydale since 2004. Although the Collective has grown and shrunk through the years, their work has always been about elevating the ordinary. And involving the community, a personal passion for Shane. Shane was involved in organizing Barrydale in Bloom for a few years till his untimely passing in 2021. Today Magpie still has Scott at the helm, assisted by curious creator, Tielman F de Villiers. @magpieartcollective
Michelle Berry
“Image making. That simple act of pen to paper, brush to canvas or needle to etching plate has been a quiet and perpetual force in my remembered years. From high school with a subject in art to Technikon where I studied fine art graphics. Then onto a textile business that created fabrics with silkscreen and hand painted techniques. And all the while with a little canvas and paints on the kitchen table which would be attended to when time allowed. On the back burner the readiness for more committed art simmered. That time has finally arrived. I now have a little studio with lovely lighting and space to effect the many images and ideas that inspire. May the images flow!” @berry.brushstrokes
