SA couple create garden to raise tens of thousands for charity

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A Yorke Peninsula couple are opening their garden to the public one last time after raising tens of thousands of dollars for charity. Their love for gardening has created a local landmark, attracting visitors from far and wide to the town of Kadina.

Transcript

00:00 Maintaining this one acre English country garden on South Australia's York Peninsula

00:07 is no mean feat.

00:09 When Helen and Dean Rodder purchased the property back in 1996 there was no garden at all.

00:17 Gardening is just such a peaceful time.

00:20 It's quite creative as soon as you put something in and it grows.

00:24 It's just got its own little character.

00:27 Camelot Garden is more than flora and fauna.

00:31 There are activities and cleverly built structures that entertain visitors for hours, including

00:37 a 14 feet deep dam and pier.

00:39 It's a lot of work to get to that stage but once the actual day turns up and all the people

00:44 come along and you hear their accolades etc it's just fantastic and it's lovely to catch

00:50 up with people, talk to people you've never met before.

00:53 The garden was first put to use as a charity fundraiser in 2007 and since then the Rodders

01:00 have welcomed over 12,000 paying visitors.

01:04 Most of the money raised has gone towards the local branch of the Cancer Council.

01:09 Some has gone to the Greenhill Lodge in Adelaide which says in the past year alone it has provided

01:14 over 27,000 nights of accommodation to regional South Australians travelling to Adelaide for

01:20 life saving treatment.

01:21 The community has really benefited overall, so many groups.

01:26 I've been here working in the garden with them for eight years now, nearly nine.

01:31 Helen and Dean say it's with mixed emotions they're opening the garden this weekend for

01:36 one last springtime stroll.

01:39 They're hoping they'll have more time to stop and smell their own roses in the years to

01:43 come.

01:44 (upbeat music)

01:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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