A Blue Mountains garden has been forced to cancel weddings as the only road into its village shuts to visitors indefinitely.
The sole route into the manicured properties, historic homes and nut farms of Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine will close to non-local traffic from Friday.
The Blue Mountains City Council mayor Mark Greenhill said the Mount Wilson Road shifted “dramatically” after March rainfall.
“If we leave the road open we risk death,” he said.
“The shift hasn’t come over time — the latest shift has come really suddenly.”
It is the latest road in the mountainous district to fail in recent years alongside Victoria Pass, both routes into the Jenolan Caves, and the only roads into the Megalong and Wolgan Valleys.
More than a thousand people a week visit Breenhold Gardens during autumn. (Supplied: M A Golam Mawla)
There is no Bureau of Meteorology rainfall station in Mount Wilson itself, but nearby sites at Blackheath and Kurrajong Falls recorded more than 120 millimetres last month.
The changing palate of autumn leaves across the enclave attracts up to 1,500 cars each weekend during the area’s busiest time of year — and makes it a popular destination for weddings.
Tom Breen owns Breenhold Gardens with his family, and estimated it would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars after cancelling at least half a dozen weddings and closing its gates to walk-in visitors.
“We normally have well over a thousand a week during autumn to visit the garden and have picnics and bring their families,” he said.
“We have a lot of weddings in that time as well because of the colour, so those plans have now just been destroyed.”
He said the full-time employment of three gardeners who manage the 45-hectare property was also up in the air.
“It’s a large hit, we will just see how things unravel and what we can do.”
Tom Breen says his family has had to cancel at least half a dozen weddings due to the road closure. (Supplied: Breenhold Gardens)
Further along the road at Mount Irvine, Robyn Scrivener runs the Kookootonga Chestnut and Walnut Farm.
She predicted her business would experience a 60 per cent downturn due to the closure.
“We can have well over 100 cars turning over all day in our car park and hundreds of people out gathering nuts,” she said.
“When we lose that business we’re crippled, that’s our annual income — it’s up in smoke.”
She said she was “frantically” trying to harvest her crop that would usually be picked by visitors over the Easter weekend.
“The chestnuts are a beautiful product but they need refrigeration and they do perish,” she said.
“A lot will be wasted, our cattle will eat a lot, it’s a calamity.”
Mark Bancroft and Robyn Scrivener expect their nut farm will experience a 60 per cent downturn. (Supplied: Robyn Scrivener)
Road closure cuts visits to remnant ‘resort’ community
The vice president of the Mount Wilson Progress Association, James Douglas, described the community as a “remnant of times gone by,” with lush European gardens nestled amongst native bushland.
“The village was set up as an ‘Indian Hill Station’ as a wealthy retreat from the heat of Sydney and summer, so it was a bit of a resort town in its time,” he said.
Up to 1,500 cars can visit Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine each weekend during autumn. (Supplied: M A Golam Mawla)
Mr Douglas said visitors are drawn to the unique mix of historic properties, bushwalks, canyons and gardens in the area — through the sole access road.
“[We need] the authorities to understand we are one road in and one road out, and that puts us in a position of risk when any emergency situation arises.
“The sooner we can expedite that fix the better.”
The council is aware the road has experienced significant shifts since La Niña rains in recent years, and closed one lane near the village in August last year due to increased ground movement.
It had engaged a consultant to design repair works for that section earlier this year, before it decided to close it to visitors completely this week.
Mr Breen said the measures were too little too late.
“Yes there was very heavy rain in March and the road has obviously been destabilised, but it’s been destabilised for a long while.
The 45 hectare Breenhold Gardens was made famous for becoming the set for a scene in The Great Gatsby film. (Supplied: M A Golam Mawla)
“They’ve had one lane going for the last six months, but to have this suddenly happen I think just shows a lack of planning.”
Councillor Greenhill said the road was still “serviceable” until its latest ground movements which made it “dangerous”.
“We don’t have a crystal ball into the way the landscape will shift, the geotechs don’t either, the recent rain made the land shift more dramatically than it had been over time.”
A spokesperson for the NSW Reconstruction Authority said the agency was supporting the council while it undertakes a geotechnical study and planning works to fix the road.
It is unclear how long it will be closed for until those investigations are complete.