Saturday, January 17, 2015

Suburb #62 Farrer

It was time for suburb number 62 Farrer. This one was likely to be injurious to my health given that it was named after William James Farrer, a wheat-breeding pioneer. Definitely not gluten free :p

Farrer migrated to Australia in 1870 to live in a warmer climate as he had tuberculosis. He is known as the father of the Australian wheat industry for developing the 'Federation' strain of wheat.

The streets here are rather logically named after agriculturalists, except for Lambrigg St which was actually the name of Farrer's property in Tharwa where he conducted his wheat experiments - after a failed attempt to establish a vineyard.


I don't think I even knew where Farrer was previously, but I had a really lovely walk around here on a perfect Canberra summers day - in fact, my adventures here were really what this project was all about.

I found this gorgeous path that weaves its way through the suburb between the houses...




The gardens and flowers here are amazing - I started to wonder if there are restrictions on people living here that don't have gardening skills! And I have never seen more agapanthus flowers in my life...(this flower never ceases to bring back memories of my school days at Woollahra public school)..





But most unexpected was the informal outdoor art gallery I seemed to stumble on when checking out the Christmas gnome I spotted out of the corner of my eye....I wish I knew who had created this space. Very cool.







And then around the other corner, I felt like I was out in the countryside...would love to go back and explore Farrer ridge more - there are some amazing views.


But perhaps the best surprise was the lovely Farrer local shops - exactly what my @thelocalshops group on stalk book is all about.

I had an amazing lunch at the new cafe here - the Fox and Bow. Its great to see locals bringing life back to the local shops via great food, community atmosphere and some colourful artwork. I can't wait to go back and try the ridge restaurant as well - GF vegie friendly yahoo :)




So thanks for having me Farrer - I agree with this guy, definitely a hidden gem :)

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