By Niel Vaughan
Imagine a family with a history as old as modern Australia itself.
What kind of people grow berries for five uninterrupted generations? The kind of people who still make a jam from a hundred-year-old recipe passed down from parents to children. The kind of people who love and care for hundred-year-old red gums– one over 500 years old.
Over 150 years ago,
Neil White’s ancestors cleared the land and first planted the berry stalks
brought from Ireland between Teesdale and Shelford, north-west of Geelong. The
White genealogy is carefully kept intact by the dedicated lineage still in the
berry trade, still on the land of
their forefathers.
Building and expanding on what has been in motion for over a century and a half, Neil wanted to share the experience of country living. So Neil and a friend hand-built two golf courses. An 18 hole mini golf course for friends and families to enjoy while they picked their own punnets of fresh berries under the watchful gaze of the old red gums. And one 9-hole golf course for the disabled of Victoria to enjoy a day out in the fresh country air.
Today, Summer Sensations bustles all year round with tourists leaving with great memories, fresh air in their lungs and a hand-picked punnet of their favourite berries.
Once the day is done Neil and the White family come together to enjoy their favourite way of eating fresh berries: mixed in a sundae topped with a raspberry sauce.
You can find Neil selling all the goodies that come from their berry bushes at the Slow Food Melbourne Farmers’ Market every 4th Saturday of every month.
