The Garden Club of Bermuda’s popular ‘Open Houses & Gardens’ series continues in rural Smith’s parish tomorrow when ‘General Pete Cottage’, ‘Hinson Hall’ and ‘Millwood’ will be open from 1 to 4 p.m.

In what is becoming a rapidly urbanised Island, this is one of the few remaining areas where there are still a number of farms.

‘General Pete Cottage’ is set on a hillside overlooking green pastureland and a horse paddock. Amusingly, the house takes its name from the family matriarch whose commanding manner inspired her children and grandchildren to address her ‘General Pete’.

‘General Pete Cottage’ was built approximately half a century ago, and is traditionally furnished with art and antiques handed down through generations. The guest bedroom features a handsome four-poster bed which belonged to the owner’s great grandmother. Its carved headboard and spiral reed foot posts are reminiscent of mahogany beds from the West Indies.

Evidence of the owner’s art includes a trompe d’oeuil mural in the bathroom. Terraced gardens of small annuals and perennials, old garden roses, and passion vine add to the attractiveness of this cottage.The adjoining stables and barn are home to equestrian boarders.

‘Hinson Hall’ is reached past rolling horse paddocks, and stands on ‘Verdmont’ land inherited by Mary Dickinson from her father John, for whom ‘Verdmont’ (Bermuda’s grandest early house) was built. Circa 1731, Mary Dickinson married Captain Samuel Spofferth — by all accounts a gallant and romantic figure who was also a privateer, member of the House of Assembly and the Governor’s Council. He is also said to have introduced the cardinal (redbird) and Lantana (sage) to the Island.

The Spofferth’s original house, a hall and chamber on either side of a central passage with a rear wing known as the ‘little chamber’, stood some distance from its storeroom and detached kitchen.

In 1937 the American-born owner and his wife renovated ‘Hinson Hall’, joining the kitchen to the main house, and adding a bathroom. For the latter half of the last century the property was owned by the Dunkley family. It was sold to the present owners in 2000.

The interiors of the earliest parts of ‘Hinson Hall’ have wide-planked, pine and cedar floors and deep tray ceilings. Warm, rich colours and paintings of hunting scenes or equestrian prints adorn the walls.

Twenty-first century additions include a swimming pool and a new brick verandah make the old house more welcoming than ever

‘Millwood’ on Store Hill is surrounded by acres of open land, pastures and fields. It is next door to one of the Island’s few remaining dairy farms.

Reached by a long, curving driveway, the south front of the two-storey house has an open, upper verandah above a gracefully proportioned, colonnaded porch. It was designed and built in 1936 by engineer and talented boat designer Cyril Hilton Smith on land inherited by his wife Dora Millwood Gilbert, after whom the house is named. Much of its construction and carpentry was carried out by the Smith family.

The current owners, who purchased the property and the neighbouring field in 1988, renovated it in 1992. In addition to a wide, covered verandah on two facades, a swimming pool was terraced into a hillside, and the old kitchen was transformed into a family room.

Antiques, paintings and photographs chronicle the family’s history, while a handsome long case clock, African art reflecting time the family spent on that continent, and a collection of Ardmore ceramics based on the legends and myths of the Zulu culture, are among the notable attractions in this home.

But that is not all. Across the garden from ‘Millwood’ sits a graceful guest cottage, once the workshop of Cyril Smith, where he designed and made cedar furniture. His collection of carpentry tools hangs on the kitchen wall, and his woodworking shop is on the lower floor.

The grounds are well-established with native and endemic plants, and salt-resistant succulents sprout from a rocky outcrop.

All three houses will be expertly decorated with local flowers and foliage by members of the Garden Club and the Bermuda Rose Society.

Tomorrow’s is the third event in the popular ‘Open Houses & Gardens series, which raises money for the Garden Club’s horticultural scholarships and environmental projects. The final event takes place in Sandys Parish on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 23. For further information see www.gardenclubbermuda.org