I love the Melbourne Open House and this year I’m helping out at one of the properties: Umina which is run by the Country Women’s Association.

Now in its tenth year, the MOH offers you a rare chance to visit historical buildings all over the city. Most are self-guided, some require bookings and there are also talks too.

I’ll be at Umina on the Saturday afternoon. From the site:

Umina is the home of the Country Women’s Association of Victoria and is an excellent example of Victorian-era architecture. It features a high ceiling, beautiful wooden surrounds and windows, a butler’s station, Arts and Crafts era (1905) woodwork cupboards, and an Edna Walling garden which she worked on in 1928. The residence was built in 1876. Its original features include an asymmetrical heritage overlay façade, tower, a steeply pitched slate roof of irregular shape, and a dominant front-facing gable. The original Edna Walling garden features rooms, lily ponds, wisteria pergolas, stonework, and significant heritage overlay trees.

I’m actually really looking forward to seeing the Edna Walling garden, as I love arts and crafts style and would like some inspiration for my own garden. I found some great pics on Pinterest – see here.

Here are the details:
What: Melbourne Open House
When: Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th July 2017
Where: Over 200 Melbourne locations: see here for a list of buildings.
Cost: Free for most but bookings for some ($5 fee applies).
More information at the MOH website.

Umina, photo courtesy Melbourne Open House.

If you’d like to visit Umina, the address is 3 Lansell Rd, Toorak and they’re serving Devonshire teas all day – and as we all know, the CWA ladies are famous for their scones. Umina is open 10am-4pm on both days, with the first tour at 11am and then running every 15 mins.

Full details of Umina can be found here. To get the best out of the weekend, I recommend planning your visits carefully. A book is available with details of all sites, at Readings bookshops and the information kiosk at the Melbourne Town Hall during the weekend, for $20.

Hope to see you there.