This Sudbury home’s formal gardens boast global inspiration and 25+ years of memories

Drive past and you might miss it.

The 5-acre oasis at 82 Old Garrison Road in Sudbury hides behind its surrounding greenery. Among lush, labyrinth-like gardens is a four-bedroom, four-bathroom home nestled in the storied Wayside Inn historic district.

Listed for $2,495,000, the 4,561-square-foot house was built in 1961 and almost entirely redone in 2004 by the current owners, who first settled on Old Garrison Road in 1999. The owners’ love of travel transformed it into a globally influenced home.

“It was originally a very different little Cape house,” said current owner Karen Brandse.

“It’s taken decades to cultivate and create such a magnificent property. It’s not just the structure itself … but it’s also the grounds,” said Peace Nguyen, of Engel & Völkers Wellesley, who has the listing.

And the grounds certainly stand out.

“You can meander through different pathways, and, around each corner, discover something new,” said Nguyen.

A walk around the property shows off fountains, waterfalls, a pool, and even a small orchard. Originally from South Africa, Brandse said there are “a lot of different theme gardens … we base different garden sections depending on where we’ve traveled.”

The indigo tiling and paintwork along the garden — that’s from Morocco. The Buddha is from Cambodia (which was quite a task to import, Brandse said). One of the bells is from Thailand. Almost every ornament has been imported.

Brandse and her husband have put more than 25 years of work into the grounds, so she said they now require minimal upkeep. Two of their children held their weddings in the scenic gardens outside their childhood home. And now, the owners have decided to downsize and perhaps relocate somewhere warmer.

The house is designed to embrace the gardens. Inside are high, vaulted ceilings with skylights to allow intense light to pour through. Many of the outdoor plants — even the trees — are portable, so they can come inside a winterized structure during cold weather.

Brandse described it as a West Coast-style house where there’s more focus on the outdoor elements.

“It is definitely a house for somebody who enjoys an indoor-outdoor kind of living, even in winter,” she said. “If you’re indoors, you’re seeing out.”

Brandse said the house really doesn’t look like anything else she’s seen on the East Coast. And, there’s an accidental wine cellar. The room was left unheated, but now it stays at the perfect natural temperature to store wine.

“Every once in a blue moon, there is a property that comes to market actually unlike anything else,” Nguyen said. “What you have to see in person to appreciate is the indoor-outdoor flow.”