About Us

Maleny’s Most Serene
and Romantic Accommodation

Every so often, we need a romantic getaway. And while many people choose Sunshine Coast as their destination, wouldn’t it be nice to avoid the crowds and have your own exclusive getaway with just you and your loved one?

Bendles Cottages is your Queensland escape, and the best romantic stay for couples looking to enjoy each other’s company.

Our cottages are completely isolated from the outside hustle and bustle, and each self-contained villa feels perfectly private. The beautiful outdoors create a sense of tranquillity while the soothing, country inspired furnishings and designs create a true sense of escapism.

Take a moment to relax, explore Queensland nature or celebrate with your partner at Bendles Cottages.

Bendles – an Edna Walling Story

Bendles Cottages are dedicated to Edna Walling's memory. The gardens have been planted in sympathy with Edna's principles of landscape design. In line with this, there are always plants in the garden in flower. We invite you to walk around the gardens and enjoy the large variety of trees and plants along with the abundant bird life on the property.

Edna loved meandering, organically designed gardens.  Having emigrated from England, Edna's first gardens had an English style.

Edna Walling Memorial Garden

Bendles Cottages are dedicated to a rose arch reminiscent of Edna's early style

ln l92l, Edna Walling built her first cottage at Bickleigh Vale, Mooroolbark, Victoria. She named it Sonning and it was there, on a three acre paddock, the collection of cottages in a controlled woodland setting began. The other cottages Downderry, Mistover, Devon Cottage, Badgers Wood and Lynton Lee, followed. The cottages were simple but in sympathy with the surrounding garden and were probably Australia's first Cluster Villa, as such.

As Enda's career flourished, she became enamoured with the native flora and fauna of Australia.  She observed that seeds fell randomly, then developed a simple technique of throwing down a sack of potatoes to see where they would fall to work out where she would plant.

Edna Walling was to become one of Australia's greatest landscape designers as well as conservationist, photographer and writer. Her influence on Australian gardens has been prodigious and her original garden designs in water color are now held at Latrobe University.

Most of Enda Walling's now famous gardens: Durrol, Mawarra, Cuming and Boortkoi, were located in Victoria and designed in the 1930s to 1940s. Through her prolific writings and sensitive photographs she is still inspiring gardeners today. ln 1967 at the age of 71, she moved to Buderim in Queensland, her final little cottage she named Bendles.

Bendles archway which will be covered in blooms throughout spring

Edna Walling was renowned for her use of stone walls and rock pools strategically placed in her garden designs

The gardens have been landscaped in sympathy to Edna's principles of garden design. Please enjoy the gardens along with the abundant bird life on the property. We do hope you have a pleasant and memorable stay at Bendles.

You can read more about Enda's Life in  The Unusual Life of Edna Walling by Peter Watts. And research her collection of photographs and life's work through Trove, the State Library of Victoria and an Edna Walling Website