An Unparalleled Natural Experience at Abbey Gardens
Abbey Gardens is a charitable organization created with a mission to transform a spent gravel pit into a green space dedicated to developing economic, educational, and recreational growth within our community. Situated in Haliburton County on over 300 acres, Abbey Gardens includes the Food Hub – a retail store specializing in local food as well as the Garden Café. There are various garden projects, scenic trails, an 18-hole disc golf course, installations for energy, sustainability, and land restoration education, a five-acre pony paddock for equine workshops, demonstration hoop houses, beekeeping, and much more. Our site is also home to several partner businesses that share our founding principles, thus creating a true community destination for locals and tourists.
At Abbey Gardens, everything we do onsite serves our mission to live more sustainably. Through educational programming, fundraising and fun, we’ve created an experience which provides inspiration for others to embody that same mission long after they leave our grounds. True to our mandate, the Abbey Gardens site is dedicated to growth in various ways, evolving as the needs and interests of our community change. The market garden currently covers two and a half acres of partially restored gravel pit. We have seven full and part time year-round staff members and our team grows to almost 20 full time employees during the spring/summer season. This team is focused on creating educational experiences for visitors through workshops, tours, and exposure to sustainable demonstrations such as composting, soil regeneration, and more, as well as developing opportunities for the community to get outside and enjoy nature within our various amenities.
Our property winds through a variety of environments, with forests, meadows, rivers, ponds and much more. It’s a picturesque venue for any of life’s special moments. Our goal is for Abbey Gardens to become the premier wedding destination for couples who want a setting as organic as their love story. Our full wedding package includes the use of our marquee tent, which has all the charm of an outdoor wedding in the middle of nature with the security of shelter for inclement weather. Our micro wedding packages – perfect for couples looking for more intimate celebrations, include a rustic enclosed porch with string lights and an outdoor space on our front lawn.
Sustainable living is a core component to the work we do at Abbey Gardens, and we approach every aspect of wedding planning with an eco-conscious perspective. We are committed to local food, and our catered meals are artfully crafted to celebrate the best local and seasonal ingredients. We work hard to ensure that our weddings are environmentally low impact, while delivering an unparalleled natural experience.
The wedding in the photos took place August 29, 2021 at the Food Hub at Abbey Gardens. It was a micro wedding, attended by 24 people.
Couple: Jasmine and Joe – We hosted the reception, the ceremony was at a family cottage
There was a HUGE storm during the wedding and we actually lost power for about an hour during dinner. The winds were intense and blew over a few of our tents outside. We ran extension cords for the lights off of someone’s car in the parking lot and cooked the food off on the propane stove top. It was a fun anecdote! Everybody still had a great time and it felt very intimate and romantic with the rain outside and the warmth inside!
Photography Credit: Crystal Jessup Photography www.crystaljessup.com
Abbey Gardens
www.abbeygardens.ca
705 754 GROW (4769) info@abbeygardens.ca
