Dennis Ford's eclectic Rydal garden draws visitors every year as part of the Daffodils at Rydal festival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The garden is a chance for Mr Ford to showcase his many interests, including his pigeons and his artworks. A friend of the late sculptor and artist Antony Symons, who passed away in 2018, Mr Ford said the pair had struck up an instant friendship after meeting at the local pub and Mr Symons passed on the art of lost-wax casting.
The artworks that fill Mr Ford's garden have become a well-known stop off on the map.
"Everybody is proud of the little village and when I was asked to be a part of [the Daffodils at Rydal] I was very happy to agree," he said.
Mr Ford has lived in Rydal for 30 years, bringing with him a love of art, poetry and animals.
Racing dogs and pigeons were a long-time love of Mr Ford's.
His international pigeon collection includes Canadian and Birmingham Rollers, as well as Budapest High Fliers, which are capable of all kinds of somersaults and other feats.
Training and racing greyhounds saw his dogs compete around the region up until 2011. His most successful dog, Royal Lover, took out a string of races in the early 2000's.
Now his only dog is an Italian Maremma, which looks after the place, and the peacocks, chooks and the goldfish, of course.
Mr Ford's garden features a range of styles, from Chinese-inspired works to a Ned Kelly sculpture and a cubby house which has been converted into an art space.
Mr Ford is celebrating a new love in his life, his new wife Angela.
Xin Rong Li, known as Angela, and Mr Ford were married in March, first in a ceremony in Sydney and then again at a celebration at Hoskins Uniting Church. Angela, who works at Tranquil Remedial Massage in the Lithgow Plaza, and Mr Ford, met through mutual friends. Prior to moving to Australia to work, Mrs Ford worked as a hairdresser in China.
Mr Ford also maintains his love of poetry, which earned him a place in the International Society of Poets' collections during the 1990's.
"At school I wrote all the time," he said.
In 1996, he was invited as a finalist to the International Society of Poets awards, which were to be held in the US. Unfortunately, work commitments kept Mr Ford on home soil and he was unable to take part in the junket, which would have included, he was told, an opportunity to shake hands with the US President.
"Poets express things in life that are real - personal things that happen to them and the world that we are living in, the traumas we face."
One of his award-winning works, 'Drought', was exceptionally valid in the current climate, he said.
You can read it here:
