Country Styleの January 2016 の目次

You have to like a man who gives his wife a flock of Suffolk sheep as a wedding present. It’s something she’s unlikely to forget and when you discover the sentiment behind Mark Clement’s gift to his wife, Deva Weitman, you will like him even more. “Mark gave me my first flock of Suffolks as a wedding present to help with my homesickness,” explains Deva, who had loved the beautiful black-faced sheep since her grandfather gave her a Suffolk when she was 12. “They are a popular breed in the States,” explains the mother of two, who grew up in the US and met Mark while in Australia on a student agricultural exchange in 1989. Today, the family are the custodians of Eden Park, a property that has been in…

FACEBOOK The beautiful home and surrounds of Annabelle Hickson delighted readers on Facebook. Photography Kara Rosenlund I love this story and images. Roberta Moberg This is simply beautiful. Leanne Gard What a pleasant life. Cherry Soo INSTAGRAM Annabelle’s Instagram takeover, to coincide with her cover story, was a great success. One of our favourite posts was this mare with her foal. Our Christmas cover star, Honey, beamed joy all over the country. Photography Kara Rosenlund Congratulations, one of your best issues from front to back. Tanya Murray Love this cover, it’s so ‘Aussie Christmas’. Makes me think of summer storms, summer barbecues and long days at the beach. Leanne Jennings What a wonderful spirit-lifting cover. Julie Honeysett A great cover picture. Bad luck to my family — dinner will have…

“First one to the water is the freshest egg,” says my son in what is a wonderfully modern take on the rotten egg analogy. And, in this summer heat, that is all I want to be — the freshest egg bobbing in cool water in the river, in a pool, in the shower, wherever. But it doesn’t last long. I’m only as good as my last cold shower, five minutes ago. Some people love the summer heat, but I’m not one of them. With a ruddy face, a dried film of sweat and exposed upper arms, I’m not at my best. As such, my January days are spent trying to cool down and regretting my decision back in winter not to press the Confirm button on the Yamba Stayz holiday…

They say that a house can reveal a lot about the owners. Even more so when the people who live there have built their dream home themselves. Claire and Johnny Greig dream up homes for a living — their business is called Greig Design & Construction — so it’s no surprise that their house at Freshwater Creek on Victoria’s Surf Coast, 100 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, is a natural expression of their styles and personalities. Claire and Johnny share it with their children — Gus, eight, and Sophia, six — a couple of dogs, chickens and two pigs named Charlotte and Babe. Johnny was raised on a farm in western Victoria and Claire comes from the Riverina, and these country roots seem to have given them considerable empathy with the…

For those privileged to take over old family properties, with gardens tended by previous generations, there’s often a challenge in preserving those legacies while making the most of the opportunities for renewal. It’s a thought that occurs while driving through the splendid kilometre-long avenue of hawthorn hedgerow leading into Eden Park at Romsey, 65 kilometres north of Melbourne. The neatly trimmed hedges, planted well over a century ago, are dusted in snowy spring flowers and allow only occasional glimpses of grazing livestock. One can sense the owners’ pride in keeping them for their original purpose — sheltering animals, and building anticipation on the long approach to the grand bluestone homestead. Eden Park has been in Mark Clement’s family since his forebears purchased 600 hectares in a Crown land sale in…

There’s a couple of threadbare brumbies just visible in the gathering purple shadow below the headland. Lost souls they are. Gordy spots them down about 20 metres below the cliff face, like wandering relics dropped off the face of the earth. The old red hound spots them too, howls like a rabid thing, sends them scattering into the scrub. Skin pulls over ribs like a wet shirt on a washboard. Gordy slaps his own voluminous gut: lifelong executioner of the march fly. It gets away. “Bugger.” Another hot, airless night is approaching and the landscape seems too lazy to echo his curse. From his vantage point up the headland’s walking trail, Gordy sees ship lights on the smoky pink water. The lamp posts in the Moraneer township flicker on without…

I GUESS WE all knew that one day something good would come out of Canberra. And now, after nearly a century of waiting, we get a double whammy. Even the dazzling intelligentsia of television quiz shows would shy away from naming Canberra as one of our better wine-producing regions. But let me tell you otherwise. One of the hardest ways to attract the large numbers of friends that wine producers need to assemble is to buy a sheep property established in the mid-1800s and to start from scratch. Graeme Shaw and his family established Shaw Vineyard Estate in 1998 in the heart of the Canberra cool-climate wine region, planting riesling, semillon, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and merlot vines. Straight merlot varietals weren’t very much in vogue at the time, but merlot…

EVEN AT EASE, Du Plessis is alert: head and ears up, eyes wide open, observing her surroundings with all her senses, and ready to react to the sound of her owner’s voice, much like a tightly coiled spring about to be released. What sets Du Plessis apart from the 48 working dogs owner Philip Tongue has bred is her easy temperament and biddable nature, eager to work and please. “She’s very good-natured and easygoing,” Philip says. Du Plessis — or Dupe as she’s called — is named after a roguish character in the UK television series Wild At Heart. The six-year-old border collie and kelpie cross was bred on Philip and Belinda Tongue’s 830-hectare sheep and cattle property, Llanillo, outside Nundle in northern NSW. A fourth-generation grazier, Philip runs three…

A SUMMER STAPLE, Bobbi Brown BB Cream SPF 30+ (40ml, $61) protects, nourishes, primes, adds a touch of colour and has natural minerals that control excess oil — which is exactly what you need on a hot, humid day. DON’T FORGET TO protect your lips with a nourishing SPF balm, such as the Bobbi Brown Lip Balm SPF 15 ($38) with beeswax, aloe and avocado oil. DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR hot, humid climates, Shu Uemura Skinfit Cosmetic Water Foundation (30ml, $65) gives a natural, barely there finish and feels feather-light on the skin with an SPF 30 rating and all-day coverage. ADDING A HINT of colour with iron oxides, Dermalogica Sheer Tint SPF 20 (40ml, $64) hydrates with hyaluronic acid and is perfect for those who want really light coverage with…

CROWD FAVOURITES Griffiths Island Take the walking track to the lighthouse overlooking the ocean and the mouth of the Moyne, and return via Fisherman’s Wharf where the boats unload their daily catch. visitportfairy-moyneshire.com.au Motts Cottage One of the town’s earliest surviving homes, it dates from the 1840s. Over time the dwelling was extended and it remains a rare example of a two-storey working man’s cottage. 5 Sackville Street. (03) 5568 2682. Port Fairy Farmers’ Market Held on the third Saturday of the month, with fruit and vegetables, flowers, honey, eggs and plants. Railway Place, Bank Street. Port Fairy Folk Festival and Spring Music Festival Two outstanding festivals, the first (which has run for 40 years) being held over the long weekend in March, and the second in October. Both draw international…

Andrew Wilson Antiques(03) 9510 5205 wilsonantiques.com.au Armadillo & Co(02) 9698 4043 armadillo-co.com Aussie Disposals(03) 9799 5777 aussiedisposals.com.au Bed Bath N’ Table(03) 8888 8195 bedbathntable.com.au Blu Dot(02) 9313 5400 bludot.com.au Bobbi Brown1800 061 326 bobbibrown.com.au Boho Bird1300 696 378 birdsnest.com.au COS(02) 9231 3944 Country Road1800 801 911 countryroad.com.au Dermalogica1800 659 118 dermalogica.com.au Domo(03) 8803 8803 domo.com.au Dress Up0408 554 432 dressup.net.au Eckersley’s Arts & Craft(02) 9957 5678 eckersleys.com.au Elizabeth Arden 1800 015 500 elizabetharden.com Freedom1300 135 588 freedom.com.au Giorgio Armani1300 651 991 armanibeauty.com Goondiwindi Cotton(07) 4671 5611 goondiwindicotton.com.au Greg Hatton Furniture Landscaping0405 543 411 greghatton.com Hale Mercantile Co.(03) 9939 1267 halemercantileco.com Happy Glamper0419 832 888 happyglamper.com.au IKEAikea.com.au Izzi & Popo(03) 9696 1771 izziandpopo.com.au Jac+ Jack(02) 9380 6630 jacandjack.com Kabinett(03) 5422 6695 kabinett.com.au Karen Walker(02) 9281 1110 karenwalker.com Koskela(02) 9280 0999 koskela.com.au La Mer1800 661 392 cremedelamer.com.au Lancôme1300 651 991 lancome.com.au Lee Mathews(02) 9997 3787 leemathews.com.au Levi’s1800 625 603 levis.com.au M Patmos (02) 9266 5544 davidjones.com.au Maison Est(03) 9500 8287 maisonest.com.au Manon Bis(03)…

KINCOPPAL–ROSE BAY SCHOOL OF THE SACRED HEART This school in Sydney offers a Student Leadership Program and a number of formal leadership positions for students of all ages. Roles include student mentor, peer support leader, yearbook editor and social justice representatives. The school has more than 150 boarders in years 7–12, all of whom are encouraged to try for a role on the Boarding School Student Representative Council. New South Head Road, Rose Bay, NSW. (02) 9388 6000; krb.nsw.edu.au MELBOURNE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL Alongside a Student Leadership Program that helps students learn decision making, goal setting, conflict resolution and self-confidence, this Anglican girls’ school, which dates back to 1893, runs a formalised wellbeing program. With full-time or sessional boarding for years 7–12. 86 Anderson Street, South Yarra, Victoria. (03) 9862…

CHRIS WARNES The Byron Bay hinterland, where he shot the house story on page 40 , is a favourite destination for this Sydney-based photographer. From the minute Chris Warnes walked into Heidi Daburger’s house in Bangalow, he knew it was going to be a great day shooting. “Her home is super stylish yet very relaxed,” he says. Holidays on a friend’s macadamia farm in the area are some of Chris’s most memorable, although surfing at Manyana on the NSW south coast comes a close second. “It’s still underdeveloped with poor phone reception, forcing you to live the simple life, which I enjoy,” he says. Before picking up a camera, Chris spent 10 years as an art director, an experience that’s shaped his style. “I work hard to tell the…

The urge to paint and draw came early for Ashley Frost, an award-winning landscape artist based in the seaside village of Thirroul on the NSW south coast — although the path to becoming an artist was a little winding. Ashley grew up in Sydney and remembers sitting in Latin class as a boy, sketching what he could see out the window. “The school had a beautiful view across the harbour and I used to draw the Opera House in pen,” the 48-year-old says. “I didn’t think much of it; it was just doodling really.” At 15, he left school and worked at various jobs before starting in property management at age 17. Days were spent crisscrossing the city: “I’d sit in the car and sketch, and on weekends, I’d paint…

ANNIE SMITHERS’S du Fermier restaurant in Trentham, Victoria, was the perfect setting to celebrate writer and photographer Kara Rosenlund’s first book, Shelter: How Australians Live (Lantern, $59.99). People travelled from far and wide to attend the event and some even had personal connections to houses featured in the book, including a descendant of the family who own Gracemere, the station whose homestead appears on the cover. Guests enjoyed a French farmhouse-inspired menu, and Kara spoke about her amazing year on the road, travelling from Queensland to Tasmania in search of country homes. Several people told Kara about other beautiful properties — so it looks like there will be plenty of material for Shelter: Volume 2!…

Heidi Daburger has lived in many places over the years, but the events of the past decade have conspired to make this island-hopping traveller settle down in northern NSW. First, her parents bought a 120-hectare palm plantation in the Byron Bay hinterland. Then Heidi found herself working in hospitality nearby on the Gold Coast, while thinking about returning to an earlier career in the world of home interiors. And, finally, she found a beautiful little cottage in the picturesque town of Bangalow, close to her parents, and saw a chance to decorate her own home as well as those of customers. Heidi grew up in Melbourne and started designing homes with her builder brother Hugh, and importing components, such as windows and doors, from overseas. She then moved into hospitality,…

THE CHANCE TO see one’s work in print and win a substantial prize of $5000 has tempted many readers over the years to try their hand at Country Style’s Short Story Competition. Some have been experienced writers, others first-timers who surprised themselves with the extent of their literary talent: all are equal when the entries are collected for judging. Your story can involve any situation or setting, but must incorporate ‘thread’ as a major or minor theme. We look forward to your imaginative response — time to start writing! PRIZE The winning entrant will receive $5000. TO ENTER Email your story, along with your name, address and daytime telephone number, to countrystylecompetition@news.com.au. Or mail it to STORY, Country Style, Locked Bag 5030, Alexandria, NSW 2015. The entries, which will not…

TO CELEBRATE World Champagne Day, Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley resort hosted the first of two Champagne dinners with Country Style and The Champagne Bureau of Australia. Guests gathered at dusk for Champagne and canapés on the verandah overlooking the rugged escarpment, before Country Style’s editor-in-chief, Victoria Carey, welcomed them to the private dining room. Guest chef Ross Lusted, from Sydney’s The Bridge Room, created an unforgettable four-course menu featuring exquisite local produce. “Champagne wines exhibit a wide variety of aromas and can be easily paired with most foods,” said Elisabeth Drysdale, director of The Champagne Bureau. “These dinners are a great way for people to experiment with matching food and Champagne.” As Australia’s love affair with Champagne develops, this dinner series provides an opportunity to learn more about this celebrated…

FROM THE SEA Enjoy this Argentinean-inspired recipe by chef Mauro Callegari of The Independent in Gembrook, Victoria, with glass of rosé or a frosty bottle of lager. GRILLED OCTOPUS Serves 4 Fill a large saucepan with water. Add 1 sprig rosemary, 3 teaspoons coriander seeds and 6 bruised cardamom pods. Bring to boil over a high heat. Add 800g octopus tentacles and simmer for 25 minutes or until just cooked. Cool in cooking liquid. (This will prevent octopus becoming rubbery.) Rinse octopus under cold running water and remove loose skin. Pat dry with paper towel and place in a large bowl. Add 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt flakes. Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Cook half of octopus for 2 minutes each…

FOR A SMALL village with picture postcard looks, Port Fairy on the Moyne River estuary on the far west coast of Victoria has a lot more going on than first meets the eye. The 19th-century whaling station that became a major fishing port and latterly a laid-back holiday destination has wide streets lined with tall Norfolk pines and tiny seafarers’ cottages, Georgian merchant houses, old pubs and civic buildings. It seems lost in time — but look again and you’ll find there’s a thriving 3000-strong community. Behind the old facades, modern culture is alive and well, with a plethora of art galleries, boutiques, and excellent restaurants and cafés. There is a hospital and a medical clinic, as well as an aged-care facility. Port Fairy is also notable as the location…

THE CHOSEN ONE, who rates cleaning up as you go along the most admirable of human qualities, has a new bee in her bonnet. The bonnet itself is okay — bunched wide-check gingham with broderie trim as favoured by Little Miss Muffet and Mother Goose — but the bee has a vicious sting. She has taken to calling the chair on my side of the bed the “chair-drobe” — as in “Would you mind clearing those clothes off your chair-drobe and putting them away?” Neither sarcasm nor pedantry are among my most favourite human qualities and, in tandem, I’m finding them less than attractive. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I’ve grown to regard furniture as items of convenience. Why would you want to apply a strict code of etiquette…

ON SALE NOW For stockists, see page 139.…

book a table NSW Pearls on the Beach With stunning views overlooking the water on the central coast’s Pearl Beach, this restaurant is a summer must with its extended opening hours and a new menu. Scott and Melissa Fox are opening shop every single night this month, serving light, fresh seasonal dishes such as seared sea scallops in a coconut and tamarind sauce with peanut sambal. (02) 4342 4400; pearlsonthebeach.com.au SOUTH AUSTRALIA Upstairs At Hollick This month, the restaurant at Hollick winery in the Coonawarra is showcasing new dishes on its summer menu, such as cauliflower soufflé with mushroom, spinach and hazelnut salad and beetroot and goat’s cheese ravioli with sage butter. Both will no doubt go well with a glass of the estate’s 2015 rosé, The Rosada.…

The river branched out beyond our home, beyond the edges of Beluga. There was a tired old rope that hung from an even tireder tree on the bend of the river. It had been there for so long, no-one knew who had put it there — or, if one day, exhausted by the weight of collective generations of boys and the odd daredevil girl, it would tear and its unlikely victim would kerplunk into the mud. I remember my uncertain feet, toes curling round the peeling bark of the tree, desperate to hold on, embarrassed to stay. The water was teeming with boys, thick like fish, their glistening heads watching. Go on, my mother had said. I swung out, a brief moment of flying and then thinking, let go, let…

IT IS NO HARDSHIP for Sarah Swan to limit herself to using ingredients grown within 100 miles of her café and catering business, 100 Mile Table. Given that she lives in Byron Bay, on the bountiful far north coast of NSW, she could rattle up a very nice supper even if she confined herself to food grown within a one-mile radius. “It’s quite an easy philosophy to practise,” Sarah says. “There’s a good amount of fruit and vegetables grown around here, we buy direct from fishermen, and beef, pork and chicken farmers. Every Thursday you’ll find us at the Byron Farmers’ Market. And then there are the locals who roll in with excess from their gardens.” Looking for the quiet life, Sarah moved north from Sydney in 2011. A veteran…

DURING THE SUMMER holidays, business is booming at the café and it’s my time to make hay while the sun shines. However, this doesn’t mean I miss out on all the fun at this special time of year. After work, I don my daggy straw hat (which my teenage daughters chastise me for) and drive to the beach to meet family and friends, have a dip and savour an iceblock. I love the warm breezes scented with a hundred backyard barbecues that swing up through the bay, the brilliant azure blue of the water and the warmth of the sand between my toes. Then there’s the beautiful stillness of dusk in summertime, with just the crickets humming and the soothing chirps of birds saying goodnight, the lightness of pulling up…

AFTER SPENDING THE week at school in Brisbane, the first thing 12-year-old Hannah Campbell and her 10-year-old sister Lilly do when they reach Glenarbon, the family property near Texas in south-west Queensland, is to look for Snowy, a small Arabian horse. Following a joyful reunion, it’s off to the milking shed to see what’s changed since their last visit. “They set off with their bottle to get milk from the dairy and come back two hours later!” says their mother, Jane. “They go under the irrigation pivot in the paddock and come back covered in mud.” Jane and her husband, Ian, grew up on farms and enjoy giving their daughters a similar upbringing. The couple met while working overseas and, on their return to Australia in 1999, moved to Ian’s…

NUDE, NEUTRAL, NAKED… whatever descriptive term you prefer, minimal make-up is this summer’s mantra. The less-is-more approach may seem daunting if you’re not accustomed to ultra-light coverage, but the new generation of skin tints make being in the buff seem, well, perfectly natural. The latest tinted moisturisers, BB and CC creams are hybrids of the highest sort: a clever combination of moisturiser, sunscreen and colour tint that provide light-as-a-feather coverage, hydration and sun protection. “Summer is all about nude-on-nude make-up. It offers a beautiful sun-kissed look that’s wearable for all skin tones and by women of all ages,” says Sydney’s Alphie Sadsad, a senior artist for Bobbi Brown. “Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s boring — what you take away in bold colours, you make up for by having great…

OUTSIDE INVITE Lunch under a shady tree... Shearers’ chairs, $275 each, from Greg Hatton. Walter G ‘Dots’ cushion, $120, jute placemats, $12.95 each, plates, $34 each, and Walter G ‘Uteki’ cushion (in basket), $99, all from The Shelley Panton Store. Striped top, $170, Linge Particulier tablecloth, $300, and ‘Metta’ napkins, $10.50 each, all from Scarlet Jones. Horn-handled knives, $15 each, coupes, $35 each, and ice bucket, $90, all from Izzi & Popo. Brickett Davda mug, $75, and Henry Dean glass vase, $169, from Manon Bis. Tumbler, $45, and water bottle, $165, both from Safari Living. Candlesticks, $45 each, and maple syrup bucket, $65, all from Montreux. Wine glasses, $22 each, from Andrew Wilson Antiques. Country Style ‘Harvest’ dome, $164.95, and ‘Tilba’ jug, $38.95. ‘Paloma’ cushion, $49.95, from Madras Link. Wire…

BASALT WINES VINEYARD Drop in to the cellar door for wine tastings, accompanied by Mediterranean bar snacks. 1131 Princes Highway, Killarney. 0429 682 251; basaltwines.com COFFIN SALLY PIZZA Good pizza, artisan beers, interesting wines and an amazing array of cocktails in a funky bluestone bar. 33 Sackville Street. (03) 5568 2618; www.coffinsally.com.au PORTOFINO ON BANK A Mediterranean menu where seafood stars. 26 Bank Street. (03) 5568 2251. REBECCA’S CAFE & ICECREAMERY Modern Australian fare, homemade cakes, slices and delicious ice-cream. 70 Sackville Street. (03) 5568 2533. THE BELFAST BAKERY Sourdough breads, scrolls, lamingtons, coffee and more. 43 Sackville Street. (03) 5568 1124; belfastbakery.com.au…