By Steph and Laurie – Oasis Cottage, Oxford

We often say that it all started with just one flower, and that flower was planted, of all places, in the vegetable garden. At the time, we felt a bit cheeky about it. Steph even asked permission (a rare moment!) to sneak that single bloom into the raised veg beds. And so it began.

That little rebellion led us to discover the potager style of gardening—a joyful jumble of edibles and ornamentals—and suddenly, flowers and bulbs began making their way into every corner. Laurie, who claimed to know nothing about flowers, boldly announced we should grow a “living library of blooms.” When spring came, he was gobsmacked. Standing face to face with a Bearded Iris named Pat Loughran turned out to be a life-changing moment.

The raised beds, originally a very serious black, got a fresh coat of French blue after we spotted Alan Titchmarsh waxing lyrical about it on television. The result? A full transformation. The veggies were evicted, and the Blue Garden was born—16 raised beds now overflowing with bulbs, blooms, and unabashed creativity.

It’s become one of our favourite places. The Blue Garden is a space where we can be adventurous, try new things, and embrace the pure joy of planting for pleasure.

From Flat to Five Acres

Steph’s been obsessed with gardening since the days of cramming houseplants into a London flat. Back then, the bathroom was “the garden,” but the dream never left. When Steph bought Oasis Cottage—a 5-acre property in Oxford scattered with old farm equipment—it felt like the ultimate blank canvas.

While Steph was busy building her skincare business (Oasis Beauty NZ Ltd), the garden took a back seat. But when she sold the company in 2019, everything changed. She finally had the time to get her hands gloriously dirty.

Laurie’s background is a bit different. His grandfather and great-grandfather were both landscape artists, so he grew up surrounded by paintings of alpine forests and reflections in water. He also attended a vocational school in his youth, where trench digging and backfilling were part of the curriculum before he moved into medicine. Back then, he didn’t realise how handy those horticultural lessons would become!

When Laurie moved into Oasis Cottage 6 years ago (we met and fell in love late in life), it turned out he didn’t just like Steph—he liked gardening too. And that was that.

Two Greenhouses and a Studio Later…

Working on the garden together has been a dream come true. Honestly, we’re a pretty good team—Steph brings the structure and planning, while Laurie brings the artistry.

Take our greenhouse, for example. Steph wanted one. Laurie said, “Why not two?” So now we have a pair, joined together, with the front half transformed into Atelier Florale—Steph’s floristry studio and creative space—and the back half dedicated to seedlings and overwintering plants. Laurie built the whole thing, from the concrete foundations up, making sure it wouldn’t fly away in the northwest winds.

The studio has comfy chairs, pop art, and some of the best views of the garden, including the double borders and Mount Oxford. All we’re missing is a champagne fridge, which feels like a worthy next investment.

Oasis by Name and Nature

We named our home Oasis Cottage after Steph’s former business, but it’s more than a name—it’s exactly what the place has become. A haven in the middle of farmland. The birdlife is spectacular—starlings gathering in the evening, swallows swooping over the spa pool, and the occasional cheeky fantail trying to sneak into the studio in search of bugs (there aren’t any, we promise).

Our garden follows a formal English style near the cottage, gradually transitioning into more relaxed, naturalistic areas as you move out toward the boundaries. We’ve created “rooms” across the five acres—each with its own character and sense of intimacy.

One visitor once described it as “a gardener’s garden,” which we took as the highest compliment. There’s a wide variety of trees, shrubs, bulbs, and perennials—all planted with care and curiosity.

Favourite Spots and Secret Views

The floral studio is Steph’s favourite garden room (no surprises there). It’s warm, dry, and smells amazing—even on a grey day. The Blue Garden comes a close second, with its joyful chaos of peonies, irises, tulips, and roses.

We also love the birch stand that looks out across to Mount Oxford—a view that’s easy to miss if you don’t pause and look up. It’s moments like that which remind us why we love this place so much.

On the Road to Four Stars

We’re proud to be a 3-star NZ Gardens Trust garden and are working hard towards that elusive fourth star. Laurie has just completed the hard landscaping on the west side of the house, and now we’re moving into the fun phase—installing arches and planting the borders.

We’re also developing the walk through the parkland to the pond, and Laurie's passion project, The Hidden Valley, is well underway.

It began with a big tidy-up around the pond, revealing beautiful reflections and natural contours we hadn’t noticed before. We brought in a man with an 8-tonne digger (a true artist in his own right) to help shape it into something magical.

Now, The Hidden Valley is becoming an immersive garden space—quiet, contemplative, and full of promise. With banks that soften the sound and create shelter from the wind, it feels like stepping into another world. We’re adding unexpected specimen plants along the meandering paths to encourage people to pause and reflect. It’s our own little storybook jungle trail.

Steph’s Floral Journey

Steph’s currently studying Floristry through The Open Polytechnic and absolutely loving it. The garden and studio have become the heart of her practice—growing, cutting, creating.

She’s especially proud of her recent 94% on a floral headpieces assessment (still smiling about that), and we’re now planting 2,500 spring bulbs in anticipation of next season’s arrangements. As you do.

Our flower beds are full of favourites: dahlias, roses, tulips, peonies, asters, strawflowers, zinnias, scabiosa—and whatever else we feel like adding. We grow many of them from seed, which is both deeply satisfying and a little nerve-wracking.

Always Evolving

There’s talk of a new garden festival in the Waimakariri region this November—watch this space! We’re quietly involved in supporting the idea and love the thought of opening our gates to more visitors and fellow enthusiasts.

As for Oasis Cottage, we know it will never truly be “finished.” That’s part of the beauty. We’re in it for the long game—surrounded by beauty, fuelled by ideas, and always finding new ways to grow.

We’ve also upgraded our gardening clothes (thank you, Laurie), because life is too short to feel scruffy in the flower beds.

These days, the soundtrack to our garden life is birdsong and Frank Sinatra. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.