Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 16 i Australian Country Homes

Dear reader, Welcome to another edition of Australian Country Homes. There are so many stunning properties around Australia. We have this gorgeous diversity in our nation and, this issue, we’re celebrating that. We’ve featured traditional homesteads, vineyards, artist retreats and even a polo players’ paradise to intrigue and inspire you when it comes to decorating your own home. With spring well and truly here, we’ve also been getting outside a little more. It’s glorious to feel the warmer sun on our skin and to see the first buds blooming on the trees in the garden. To keep us in the mood to celebrate, we’ve not only included some gorgeous gardens and landscapes in this issue but we’ve also got a little spring feature to help you celebrate the warmer weather,…

David Pollock and his wife, Frances, could be described as an unconventional couple. Living on their station, Wooleen, eight hours’ drive north-east of Perth, they are in the midst of the sprawling Murchison region of Western Australia, where stations the size of some European countries have run sheep and cattle for more than a century. But, in 2007, David Pollock did something “really silly”. He destocked his entire half-a-million acres. It was his first year as Wooleen’s owner after taking over from his father, Brett, who, despite more than 18 years steering it through boom and bust, lost his heart for station life after the death of his beloved wife, Helen. The family had cleverly diversified into tourism in 1993 to cushion themselves against plummeting wool prices, converting the sprawling…

MIX IT UP Functionality is paramount when it comes to alfresco spaces, and the Essente gooseneck pull-out mixer will provide you with just that. Its added functionality will accommodate every last bit of washing up from the weekend barbecue, leaving you to enjoy your week. oliveri.com.au SMOKING HOT This three-in-one charcoal barbecue, roaster and smoker caters for 12 people, so is perfect to use when hosting summer family gatherings and long, lazy Sunday lunches with friends. Made for the backyard chef and barbecue enthusiast, the easy-to-clean and rust-resistant stainless-steel grills and silicon-coated side handles deliver a safe and enjoyable cooking experience. Packaged with a fish/meat hanger, the ProQ Frontier Elite ensures every charcoal-cooked meal will be uniquely delicious and flavoursome. proqsmokers.com.au JUST RIGHT The smaller-sized round-bowl Solitaire sink is just…

Loris Partridge displays an infectious joie de vivre in everything she does. It’s evident in the food she cooks, the award-winning business she runs and the flair she applies to her gardens and the interiors of her home. Loris and her husband, Ray, are the residents of an old house in the Sydney suburb of Glebe. But they haven’t always lived here. “We were living in an inner-city apartment but felt it was time to move,” Loris explains. “Our children grew up in a historic home in Hunters Hill and we really missed that sense of space and the joy of a country-style garden.” Even now, their busy lifestyle doesn’t allow them to spend as much time as they’d like in their abode. Loris and her husband are the owners…

For as long as she can remember, Lisa Toyer has been in love with the silver screen. As a toddler, she loved nothing better than to visit her grandmother and together they watched the entire Rodgers & Hammerstein repertoire … South Pacific, The Sound of Music, Carousel, The King & I, Oklahoma … and as many repeats as her granny could bear. Lunchtimes were not so much an occasion for sandwiches and sweet treats as an excuse to cosy up in front of the TV for the midday movie. “My grandmother was this incredibly elegant woman and she encouraged my passion for film,” Lisa recalls. “She also introduced me to [musical director and choreographer] Busby Berkeley’s shows and I would dance in front of the TV.” That, in turn, led…

“Incomparable host. Excellent food. Fantastic atmosphere. A little bit of Italy on the southwest slopes ... not to be missed.” This is just one of the many upbeat reviews of Willowvale Mill, located in Laggan, New South Wales. It pretty much sums up what guests once experienced in this restaurant, accommodation and conference centre that was set in the original flour mill of this diminutive southern tablelands township. It’s a one-man band that’s has been a long time a-playin’. It was 1972 when entrepreneur Graham Liney first bought the property, which featured a shell of the original 1840s building. Four years later, it was devastated by a freak storm, only to be gutted by fire two years after that. The term “plain sailing” is the antithesis to Graham’s lot. “When…

Think about it. The context of the present is the result of what is past. This is why towns, properties and houses that offer us a glimpse of history are so important. They’re our guideposts on the linear road of time and when they’re knocked down, renovated insensitively or squeezed out by modern monstrosities, we lose not only something from yesteryear but a bit of our present day, too. Many places in Australia rekindle a sense of history, but a real standout is Markdale, a sprawling sheep and cattle property located on the outskirts of Crookwell, New South Wales. It’s considered a treasure by heritage and horticultural groups and was well tended by the same polo-loving family for three generations. “Our family has been living and working on this 6500-acre…

The scent of fresh flowers dances in the breeze. Sunlight streams through the window panes, heating the floor just so. Daylight stretches into the evening, and a certain energy buzzes in the air. There’s something magical about spring — a sense of growth and joy is more abundant now than at any other time of year. And that’s why it’s such a good time to give your home a mini makeover. Updating your interior design carries many benefits. It can make a place that once seemed slightly stale feel reinvigorated — and after the amount of time we’ve spent indoors during the last year or so, it’s no wonder that the home can feel somewhat bland. A new design can bring new energy to the space and get it ready…

Some people are imbued with a natural sense of style that’s all their own. They’re not impressed by the latest thing on the block, while the fleeting fancies of fashion leave them cold. Instead, they put a unique stamp on everything they do: what they wear, how they live and even how they work. Alexandra Freeman, jewellery designer and owner of Australian fashion accessories label Polka Luka, falls into such a category. The entrepreneurial Alex kick-started Polka Luka in 2007. This was after many years of living and working in south-west China in environmental and cultural conservation. What followed was a brief stint as a public servant in the nation’s capital and the realisation that she needed a change. “While living in China, I worked primarily with people from minority…

A SUNSHINY SHOWER Exterior shower fittings must be able to withstand the elements, but all plated finishes will deteriorate in time. Perrin & Rowe’s tapware and shower fittings are made from uncoated bare brass, specifically for use outdoors. With exposure, the brass will develop a characteristic patina but not lose functionality. This means you can install one of these bare-brass outdoor showers in your outdoor bathroom and leave the elements to do the rest! englishtapware.com.au TILES WITH STYLE With more than 100 styles to choose from, Schots boasts an impressive range of encaustic tiles in both traditional and contemporary designs. They are made from real concrete, using traditional French artisan techniques. The pigment is impregnated into the tile, allowing it greater wear and tear compared to oriented tiles, making it…

The sun is barely up when we arrive at the home Carol Kennedy shares with her publican husband, Des, on the northern outskirts of Mudgee in centralwestern NSW. But already, pocket-rocket Carol has been out for her morning run and is busy hauling hoses around the substantial garden she has created around the brick homestead that was built in the 1850s for Mudgee’s pioneering Mogg family. Des is nowhere to be seen as he heads into town early most days to do the tills at their landmark Oriental Hotel before he gets diverted to deal with council business that constitutes his other job as Mudgee’s mayor. Carol puts in a couple of early hours in the garden before she too heads off to the Ori, as the pub is affectionately…

Of all the pieces of gratuitous advice well-wishers hand out to first-time parents, perhaps the most obvious is “your life will never be the same”. For Michael and Rebecca Boyd, that resonated in duplicate when they learned they were having twins. But the make-or-break moment for the young couple from the NSW coastal city of Newcastle came when Rebecca was made redundant from her job as a food technologist while she was on maternity leave. Fortunately, Michael’s job as a business development manager for a building company was secure, but the couple felt the time had come to take greater control of their future, move to the country and invest in their own business. “I had grown up in Newcastle and Michael in Albury and we met at university in…

They say you never know what’s around the corner. The adage proved true for Helen and Peter Wallace, when they moved from Melbourne to the Gold Coast in 2010 for what they imagined would be semi-retirement. “We got as far as buying the boat,” Helen recalls. “But it turned out that Peter just couldn’t make that complete step back from work so he was constantly commuting to Melbourne.” On one of those trips in late 2015, Peter inspected a property at Sassafras in the Dandenong Ranges. He made an offer and it was accepted. “We’d bought it before I even saw it,” Helen says. “Fortunately, I trust his judgment. When I eventually did see it, I was stunned at the beauty of the garden. Although it had been let go…