Picnic in Sunday Reed’s Heritage, Art-Filled Gardens at Heide Museum of Modern Art

Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Kitchen
Heide Kitchen
Heide Kitchen
Heide Kitchen
Heide Kitchen
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens
Heide Gardens

Heide Gardens ·Photo: Courtesy of Heide / Clytie Meredith

Experience Heide’s grounds as the Reeds, and the modernist art circle around them, once did. In partnership with Heide, here’s why spring is the best time to visit.

Sunday and John Reed are regarded as two of the most influential patrons in 20th-century Australian art. From the 1930s to the 1960s, they mentored, nurtured and befriended artists, writers and intellectuals including Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester and many more. The Reeds were key figures in the development of modernism in Australian art and literature. Since their passing, just 10 days apart in 1981, the Reeds’ legacy has grown to include five galleries, a collection of 3700 artworks, and the evolving landscape of gardens and bushland at their former home in north-eastern Melbourne.

In 1934 the Reeds purchased a neglected dairy farm in Heidelberg (now Bulleen) and named it Heide, in an abbreviation of the local township. Over the years, the Reeds transformed the 6.5-hectare grounds into a series of discreet gardens. By visiting Heide in spring, visitors can experience Heide as the Reeds intended – in full bloom, buzzing with energy and creativity.

A walk through the gardens

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Heide’s kitchen gardens are next to the two homes the Reeds occupied on the property. The couple’s first home, where they lived from 1935 to 1967, was the original farmhouse and is now known as Heide Cottage. Their second home, now named Heide Modern, was designed in the 1960s by architect David McGlashan, whom the couple commissioned to create a “gallery to be lived in”. Sunday Reed planted and tended to both kitchen gardens herself according to organic principles, with flowers growing abundantly between the herbs and vegetables.

Visitors can still wander the heritage kitchen gardens, which underwent careful restoration in 2023. Sunday’s garden-to-plate ethos also lives on at the on-site cafe, Heide Kitchen, which uses seasonal produce from her garden beds.

The site of the first kitchen garden, which was eventually relocated to a sunnier spot, is now Heide’s Healing Garden: a place for respite and relaxation. It’s a sensory garden with places for visitors to sit and reflect while immersed in the surrounding colours and fragrances. Opened in 2021, it was specifically designed in collaboration with community groups to be accessible to people of all abilities.

The sculpture park

Heide’s sculpture park spans the property’s entire acreage, with more than 30 works to discover by internationally renowned artists including Inge King, Anish Kapoor, Anthony Caro and Neil Taylor. This spring, the park has a new addition by pioneering British artist Barbara Hepworth, a major figure in European abstract sculpture in the 1930s and the first female sculptor to achieve global recognition.

Yaluk Langa

An ongoing collaboration between Traditional Owners and the Heide team, Yaluk Langa is an Indigenous landscape project on the Birrarung. The site is part of the traditional homelands of the Wurundjeri-willam people, and its rehabilitation and development – begun under John Reed in the 1960s – is focused on caring for Country. This year has seen a new project to develop a ceremonial gathering and learning space here. The Yaluk Langa gathering space, set in a natural amphitheatre formed by a flood basin, will be a place for the Wurundjeri community to perform traditional ceremonies. It’s also designed to host First Nations educational activities for community groups and schools.

Picnic like the Reeds

For the artists and their benefactors at Heide, the property wasn’t just a place to work, but also to connect and rejuvenate. More than one archival photo shows the Reeds with friends and family, gathered around a picnic table in the gardens with their dogs. Today, visitors to Heide are encouraged to share in a spring picnic too. You can snack on a baguette and a coffee from the takeaway cart, or order a picnic basket full of goodies from Heide Kitchen to enjoy on the lawns amid the sculptures.

A spring wedding

Heide is also a striking spot for a wedding celebration, with historic modernist architecture that fits seamlessly into the surrounding parkland. Events are catered by Heide Kitchen, with options for afternoon tea, grazing tables, canapés, a cocktail reception or a sit-down dinner. Wedding photography is also on offer – and the sculpture park makes for a stunning backdrop.

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Heide.

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Broadsheet is a proud media partner of Heide Museum of Modern Art.
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