Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 17 i Australian Country Homes

Dear reader, It’s 2022 — and the year ahead is full of promise and hope. With summer in full swing, I’m spending a lot of time outdoors with those I love, and I’m more grateful for this privilege than I ever have been before. In my home, I’ve been spending more time on the little things. After spending so long in lockdown in 2021, I’ve found a new appreciation for my garden and have continued this desire to nurture in the new year. I’ve also found time to have more picnics — a pleasure and a privilege I’ll never take for granted again. Of course, this has all been done while working on this latest issue of Australian Country Homes. I’ve found some gorgeous seaside properties that will have you…

Just as shag piles and chandeliers have experienced a revival, so too have old beach shacks, with those dating back as far as the early 1900s experiencing renewed interest. They are the new antiques. Not everyone loves them, but those who do are restoring them to their former glory — and stats show that such enthusiasts are paying whatever it takes to satisfy this yearning for yesteryear. The real estate market on the New South Wales south coast was not always like this. In the 1970s and 80s, fibro and weatherboard cottages that were built as cheap holiday homes in preceding decades were knocked down to make way for newer developments. Council heritage advisor Robin Graham concedes that such coastal dwellings weren’t well appointed. “But they had charm,” he says.…

Garry McPake candidly admits he had never heard of an Adirondack chair when a client brought several to his furniture workshop for repair. Garry, who had worked as a mechanic and shipwright in his former lives, had moved to the NSW South Coast township of Berry more than 20 years ago. By the time he teamed up with Sandy in 2001, he had established himself as a fine-furniture craftsman. They merged their two families and set up a hand-crafted furniture business on a property just north of Berry. “The problem with bespoke furniture is you are constantly in the design process, refining the product to make it absolutely the best,” Garry explains. “I kept saying to Sandy that if I could just concentrate on making the one thing and getting…

Canberra is located three hours south-west of Milton. These days, the ever-expanding nation’s capital couldn’t be more diametrically opposed to this coastal town nestled in verdant hills. It was this city to country shift, combined with the fact that the Badhams didn’t know a soul in the small rural township, which made the early days of their sea change a challenge. However, it’s one they rose to with great enthusiasm. Houses — like people — have personalities. Some impress with their facades but lack substance once you step inside. Others don’t look like much at first sight yet emit indefinable warmth on closer inspection. Others, such as this project in Milton, on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, are hard to categorise. At first glance this coastal abode…

The long summer days are perfect to spend outdoors with loved ones. After a challenging year, many of us are celebrating, commemorating, and simply catching up with our nearest and dearest — and what better place to do it than in your very own backyard? At a garden party, the lawn takes centre stage — so if you only have time to prepare one element, let it be this. Mow and edge your grass to ensure it’s party ready. Next, it’s time to clean your outdoor furniture. A pressure washer is an efficient way to wash off any grime, although a sponge and soapy water will also do the trick. And, for those outdoor chefs, pre-event is the easiest time to complete the dreaded barbecue clean. If your outdoor furniture…

A good rugby player is up for a challenge, quick on his feet and able to make the most of the opportunities that come his way. Western Queensland sheep farmer Andrew King has played a bit of rugby in his day and even represented his state for several years in the late 80s. He took these lessons from the field into the paddock when he and his wife, Maree, took over his family’s sheep properties in western Queensland. Andrew and Maree own Silverwood and Westfield stations, almost 18,000 hectares of natural grazing pasture southeast of Longreach. Westfield, which is where Andrew, Maree and their children once lived, has been in Andrew’s family since the late 1800s. Silverwood, which takes its name from a variety of boree tree that studs the…

“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” The sign in the living room of Matilda Heveldt’s home pretty much sums up all she’s learnt from the past decade. The adage informs the laid-back lifestyle Matilda, her husband, Michal, and their children, Lani and Evie enjoy in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton. Matilda, an HR consultant who’s previously studied international business, grew up in Rockhampton, where the population of 110,000 primarily services the surrounding agricultural and mining industries. As with many of her school friends, she moved to Brisbane for university, and then work took her to Perth and back to Brisbane. Along the way she met and married Kiwi-born Michal, whose career as a machine operator means he lives the FIFO (fly-in,…

As far as Michelle and Jim Neilsen were concerned, it was the best-timed cup of coffee in history. Having just returned from hosting a fishing trip for his underwater diving and spear-fishing business, Jim took Michelle to a Brisbane cafe to catch up on their time apart. The newlyweds were happily living in Jim’s house in Brisbane’s south and weren’t even looking for a property but, as luck would have it, Michelle picked up a paper and spotted an ad for a 13-acre (5.3-hectare) semi-rural property on the city’s western periphery. “It was 2003 and I had not long returned from Germany,” Michelle recalls. “Something about this rustic house nestled in the hills resonated. Jim was less than enthusiastic when I suggested we go and have a look. In fact,…

“We moved from Canberra in the days when most Canberrans holidayed or relocated to Batemans Bay and further south, and most Sydneysiders only went as far as Berry,” Vivien says. “To us, Milton was a happy, beautiful and peaceful place. It was quiet and a little more isolated. We gave ourselves five years, and if it didn’t work out, we agreed to move back. Slowly but surely our lives in Milton fell into place and now we really love it — the pace of living, friendly atmosphere and the wonderful friends we’ve made.”…

Fourth Beach on Cape Town’s Atlantic seaboard is one of the country’s most desirable spots, as evidenced by the summer months when South Africans — not to mention international tourists — flock to it en masse. For Leon and Jann Saven, and their daughter Gabriella, who live in one of the oldest bungalows on the beach, it’s not just a summertime romance. The couple moved in 12 years ago after an extended stint in California. And for Jann, in particular, it was a double dose of coming home: she grew up in this house. “We absolutely couldn’t believe that we were living here on Fourth Beach but we quite soon realised that we needed to make the home ours,” says Leon, an architect with his own practice in Cape Town.…

Is your home a beachside cottage filled with character and warmth? A contemporary urban abode with cutting-edge style? A house in the ’burbs you are renovating? Or perhaps you have an eco-chic dwelling that pays homage to the natural environment? No matter what your home’s style, there are many components that make up its exterior appeal and overall presentation, including walling, cladding, roofing, windows and doors. It’s a wrap Cladding is the material that is fitted to the external wall system of a home or commercial property. There are a few different wall systems in Australia, the most common being a structural single timber stud system frame. On the inside, internal cladding like plasterboard is fitted, and on the outside, external cladding materials such as brick, fibre-cement or weatherboard are…

By all accounts, John Tothill, one of the founding fathers of the Clare Valley’s wine industry, was a man of vision. Clearly a person of great determination and dedication, Tothill bought an estate close to the village of Auburn from Colonel John Barker, who was an ex-British army officer with a distinguished career in India, in the early 1890s. In those days Australia was John Bull’s vineyard and the British thirst for our fortified wines seemed unquenchable. Auburn’s proximity to Port Wakefield, which had been established on Gulf St Vincent as the port for the Burra copper mine, meant that barrels of wine, bales of wool and grain could also be loaded for shipment back to the UK, and the pioneering farmers were on to a good thing. Enterprising farmers…

There are few things more precious in life than enjoying beautiful food with the people you love. And according to self-taught chef, mother and founder of delectable food website Gather & Feast Ashley Alexander, it is truly one of life’s simple pleasures. Passionate about creating wholesome and nutritious recipes using natural ingredients and fresh in-season produce, Ashley recently sat down with Miele to share her insights on creating a kitchen you love and tips on how to nurture a fun, sustainable and relaxed attitude in the heart of your home. What is important to you in the kitchen? When we’re entertaining friends and family at our home, the kitchen is always the place where everyone gathers and socialises. Having the ability for multiple people to easily move around the kitchen…

As Jane Fraser sees it, there are so many whys in Yalla-Y-Poora homestead, a huge bluestone mansion at Tatyoon in Victoria’s Western District. Why did the founding Ware family build in such a mishmash of styles? There are Gothic, Palladian, Federation and high Victorian elements to the two-storey homestead. Why is it asymmetrical? And the big why: Why did they decide to dismantle the original homestead, which was completed in 1857, and just over 50 years later, rebuild a few hundred metres away? Yalla-Y-Poora has belonged to the family of Jane’s husband, Tim, since his grandfather bought it in 1965. The 3500-acre (1400-hectare) property is a mere shadow of the 66,493-acre (27,000-hectare) original, which was taken up by squatters Thompson and Stevens in 1841 and believed to be named for…