Our History

Leura Gardens Resort’s origins date back to the 1920s when Lady Mabel Fairfax and her gardener, Hector Hood, transformed the extensive grounds into a series of beautifully manicured garden spaces to complement the grand residence.

Lady Mabel asked Hood to make her a garden in the English style including flower borders and bluebell wood. As a result, English oak, silver birch, scarlet oak, linden tree, many Japanese maples, rhododendrons and azaleas co-exist with exotics from around the world, along with a stream and rock pool built by Hood.

The gardens have changed over time, but amazingly, while the original house was burnt down in the Leura bushfires of 1957, the gardens largely survived. They have evolved since Hood’s days with a Japanese influence introduced in the 1960s, with elements still recognisable in the Shogetsu cherry, purple-leafed maple, weeping elm, and the stone lantern at the rock pool in the Fairfax Garden.

The gardens are open for guided tours during the annual Leura Gardens Festival, but guests can take advantage of this stunning piece of history any time they stay. A wander in the gardens, enjoying the rich and ever-changing colours, is like a walk back in time when life was slower and more elegant.

Perfect for a picnic, quiet contemplation while reading a book or even a game of hide and seek with the children, these gardens have given pleasure to visitors over their almost hundred years of history and represent one of the finest garden designs in the Blue Mountains.