In the nearby suburb of Killara, there is a gem of a park called Swain Gardens that not many people know about. In fact, I was reminded of its existence because I saw it on TikTok. If you think TikTok is only for rubbish dance videos, I urge you to think again. It’s excellent for finding out about places for day trips, new restaurants, walks you might not have known about, recipes, gardening tips, craft and art and then there is booktok, which is, I’ve heard recently, the largest hashtag on the platform.
Anyway, Swain Gardens.
I knew about it, because when you enter the gardens from the Stanhope Road entry that goes steeply down into the gully, there is an old house rather in want of some TLC that’s a rental property. One of my daughters had a school friend who lived there. The property is still rented out, although it looked a bit nicer ten-odd years ago.
The gardens were started by a local resident in the 60s when he bought adjacent bush blocks to prevent them from being developed. His family then donated the property to the council, who manage it as a park.
A feature of the gardens are the ancient mulberry trees. Yes, my daughter’s friend used to keep silkworms. Why do you ask?
Here are some photos I took this morning.
