Welcome to a Wonderful Botanical
World of Whimsy
Once Upon a Time
Britannia Avenue is dedicated to my late nanna Beryl, whose peaceful and pretty gardens were my happy place as a child.
I loved getting lost among her enchanting roses with their colour-drenched rows of heavy-headed, perfumed blooms, and playing in the backyard without a clock counting the minutes and hours.
I delighted in wandering out the back gate into the fields, passing the horses to go and devour blackberries straight off the bush, and escaping high up into the mulberry tree to turn the pages of my Enid Blyton with hands stained purple stubborn as ink.
And so it was, many years later, the seeds of Britannia Avenue were sown — a little botanical world of whimsy, inspired by storybook wonder and a longing to keep those cherished childhood memories with my nanna alive.
Est. by Gaynor Faye
“I started growing flowers after suddenly developing a rare neurological condition at 42 that left me unable to walk or talk properly.”
After having to give up my career and embrace a much slower pace of life, I discovered a love of growing flowers from seed.
What began with a handful of pots crammed into my little inner-city garden soon became a daily ritual — getting up each morning to see what had germinated and watching with delight as my flowers began to grow.
It gave me a renewed sense of purpose and a beautiful connection to my late Nanna Beryl, whose love of flowers and gardening I remembered so fondly from childhood.
What started as a way to make sense of a sudden, debilitating diagnosis gradually metamorphosed into something quite wonderful — a slower and softer way of living, and the beginnings of Britannia Avenue Botanical Emporium.
Longing for more space to grow flowers and a more peaceful way of life, I left the city behind for the beauty of the Macedon Ranges. Here, surrounded by nature, I found not only a greater sense of peace and wellbeing, but nearly an acre of land to learn to grow flowers.
Britannia Avenue founder Gaynor Faye, featured in local Macedon Ranges newspaper.
A Family Album
Nanna’s House at Britannia Avenue
Nanna Beryl holding me as a baby in the back gardens at Britannia Avenue
With my aunt at Britannia Avenue. Wherever she went, I went.
My sister and I in the front gardens at Britannia Avenue after having our faces painted
Dame Donelle Joy, my dear mum
Running in the back gardens at Britannia Avenue after the Royal Show
The pretty petunia-lined paths at Britannia Avenue.