Table of contents for June 2018 in Country Style

Everyone talks about paddock to plate these days, but this magazine started talking about it nearly three decades ago. It’s our 30th birthday early next year and we are delighted that everyone has caught on to the fact that we need to celebrate the people who produce the food we serve to our families; the vegetables we put on the plate at dinnertime for our kids. I’ve just returned from Orange FOOD Week and I had a great time seeing all the regulars — nearly 180 people attended our annual Producers’ Lunch at the Nashdale CWA Hall. I also enjoyed a quick dinner at Lolli Redini in Orange. If you ever get the chance to go to Sim Hawke’s restaurant, you have to try the sweet pea, broad bean and…

WE DECIDED TO send the kids into a bigger school this year. We live just past the end of the bus run into town — one of the longest bus runs in NSW, says our bus driver Steve — and for the first half of the week, the children hop on Steve’s enormous bus, happily. It leaves at 7:18am on the dot, whether you are there or not. So far we haven’t missed it, although there have been some pretty intense mornings involving straight Nutella for breakfast and desperate screams of “where are the school shoes?” that go unanswered. The shoes are, of course, in places no reasonable person could be expected to know, except for maybe the person who left them there, but she is five and has other…

book a table SA The Bridgewater Mill Enjoy the new à la carte menu featuring full-bodied flavours and winter cooking techniques at this atmospheric 1860s historic flour mill turned restaurant in the Adelaide Hills. It’s the perfect food to eat while relaxing with a glass of red in front of the open fire. (08) 8339 9200; thebridgewatermill.com.au WA Cullen Wines With biodynamic viticulture occurring in the vineyard, the Cullen Wines restaurant menus are created using the fresh herbs, fruit, vegetables and bush tucker that is nurtured in the extensive garden, as well as the best of Margaret River’s local organic ingredients. Daily specials change according to what’s in season. Open 11.30am–4pm, Friday to Tuesday. 4323 Caves Road, Wilyabrup. (08) 9755 5656; cullenwines.com.au WEEKENDS AWAY TASMANIA Mona Pavilions…

SOME THINGS HARDLY need saying, in the same way that night follows day. Annie Smithers and the heart she puts into her cooking with her own farm-grown produce is a case in point. “It’s the narrative of the restaurant and me, that I grow all the stuff for my cooking at my farm — my real passion is to live in connection to the land,” says Annie, chef and owner of the acclaimed Du Fermier restaurant in Trentham, central Victoria. For 14 years, half a hectare of productive gardens behind her cottage in the goldfields town of Malmsbury had been Du Fermier’s bountiful larder. Then in March last year she moved closer to the restaurant when she bought Babbington Park, nine fertile and undulating hectares at Lyonville, with her partner…

LIKE MANY VICTORIAN towns that grew up in the gold rush, Kyneton — originally a supply town for the diggings in the mid-19th century — has its fair share of heritage architecture. Today however, many of the early buildings are occupied by creative businesses, antique stores and plant nurseries. There’s also a diverse array of eateries and, in an area highly regarded as a food bowl, chefs make the most of the produce right on their doorstep. It’s this burgeoning food and wine scene that has been shining a light on Kyneton, about an hour’s drive north-west of Melbourne, as one of regional Victoria’s hottest food destinations. Damian Sandercock, who now owns the traditional charcutier and cooking school, Piper Street Food Co, with his wife Bryanna, came to Kyneton in…

MEET THE PRODUCERS Scott and Libby Glasser, Yagaburne Beef, Goondiwindi, Queensland Now the third generation of his family to farm the western Darling Downs, Scott Glasser’s grandfather took up a property there in 1935. Scott’s wife, Libby, moved to Goondimerri, their 5500-hectare property, when they married 30 years ago. “We work together for a common outcome: to produce the best beef we can for our customers,” she says. The Glassers raise Poll Hereford cattle for the wholesale and commercial markets, selling branded beef directly into local butcheries in Goondiwindi, Texas and Toowoomba, as well as Brisbane and Moree, NSW. It’s all about the flavour, says Scott. “We’ve learnt all about the things that affect eating quality,” he says. “The cattle feed on grass and have access to grain, and gentle…

HUTTON VALE FARM lies just outside Angaston, in the rolling countryside of South Australia’s Barossa Valley. The long dusty drive weaves through paddocks studded with ancient red gums and grazing sheep, finally delivering you to a cluster of old stone buildings. It’s where the Angas family has been farming for 170 years, with sixth-generation Jan and John Angas at the helm of this 800-hectare property, once part of a larger holding settled by George Fife Angas in the 1840s. Jan appears at the door of the barn — the headquarters of the many enterprises going on here — with working dogs Missy, Alfie and Mack at her heels. “Lindsay Park was the original holding; the office was at Collingrove and Hutton Vale was the working farm where the manager lived.…

1 THI LE When time permits, Thi and partner Jia-Yen Lee escape their tiny mod-Asian, mod-Australian eatery — the one that’s taken Melbourne by storm — and hit the highway home to Sydney, stopping in the Victorian High Country for dinner at the landmark Japanese-influenced Provenance in Beechworth. “The food is complex, generous and delicious,” Thi says. “And you can stay in this awesome pub in nearby Stanley — it’s really affordable, with massive fireplaces, cheese platters and a great wine list.” 2 TROY RHOADESBROWN The pleasure of visiting Dan Hunter’s Brae in Birregurra, Victoria, begins before you even arrive, says Troy Rhoades-Brown, chef and owner of Muse Restaurant in the Hunter Valley. “The drive to the restaurant is beautiful, then you get to Brae… the rolling hills, the gardens,…

JACQUI FINK, FIBRE ARTIST AND KNITTER, 45 The founder of Little Dandelion workshop space and online store uses wool to create works of art. You grew up in the country. What was your childhood like? I was raised in a semi-rural area of northern NSW, surrounded by the caldera of Mount Warning. I had a wonderful slow-paced childhood. I remember vivid blue skies and homegrown fruit, herbs and veggies. Describe your style. Classic but relaxed with a slight boho, romantic edge to it. I love a good frock, too, especially in a floral print. What’s your typical outfit? When in making mode, I need to be as comfortable as possible because my work tends to be very physical; you’ll find me in jeans, a T-shirt and my Steel Blue boots.…

THIS CLOCK WAS given to me, as a horse-mad girl 40 years ago, by a couple that described it as “an unwanted, ugly wedding gift” years beforehand. The clock face says ‘Made in Germany’ and the base says ‘To Foreign’ (I think). Regardless of its value, I still love it — and horses. Jane Di Giuseppe, CITY BEACH, WA Your lively stallion was made by Scheurich and Greulich near Frankfurt in Germany after World War II, which is why the base is marked ‘Foreign’. The clock itself was made by J. Hauser in West Germany. Scheurich and Greulich were manufacturers of all kinds of inexpensive ceramics, including kitchenware. These novelty clocks, which included all kinds of animals, were popular in the 1950s and 1960s. As they were inexpensive, the clocks…

Adairs adairs.com.au Abode Living 1800 022 633 abodeliving.com All Fired Up (03) 9533 5528 afu.com.au Anita Mertzlin anitamertzlin.com Anna Karina Ceramics annakarinastudio@gmail.com Aveda 1800 292 069 aveda.com.au Bang and Olufsen Australia beostore.com.au Bedouin Societe (03) 9391 3843 bedouinsociete.com Bensimon (07) 5472 8309 bensimonaustralia.com.au Block and Chisel blockandchisel.co.za Brooklyn Copper Co 0423 888 213 brooklyncopperco.com.au Bumble and Bumble 1800 007 844 mecca.com.au Coco Republic 1300 000 220 cocorepublic.com.au Country Road countryroad.com.au Dr Bronner (03) 9562 8822 drbronner.com.au David Mallett (07) 3395 4997 david-mallett.com.au Dulux 13 25 25 dulux.com.au Elk (03) 9478 1800 elkaccessories.com Emac and Lawton (02) 9516 3555 emac-lawton.com.au Est (03) 9819 0726 estaustralia.com Found. at Hepburn 0457 234 616 found.style French and Co (03) 9347 1141 frenchantiqueshop.com.au GlobeWest (03) 9518 1660 globewest.com.au Hale Mercantile Co (03) 9939 1267 halemercantilecolinen.com Helen Kaminski helenkaminski.com.au Harvey Nichols harveynichols.comHomecamp 1300855162homecamp.com.auIKEA ikea.com.auJeff Gardner cascadeprintroom.com.auJurlique 1800805286jurlique.com.au Kate Sylvester katesylvester.comKenneBec American Vintage 0429116671etsy.com/shop/kennebecvintageshopKmart kmart.com.auKoskela (02)92800999 koskela.com.au Le Creuset 1300 767 993…

LAYERS OF LUXURY Hand-selected silk, woollen, cashmere and linen pieces from The Farmer’s Wife are the epitome of elegance and comfort. (03) 5345 1180; thefarmerswife store.com.au TAKE A SEAT Le Forge has been making its outdoor steel furniture since 1985 and has now added café cane chairs to its range, sold under the Gerard Lane label. Each piece is handwoven using traditional methods and the highest-grade rattan and materials. (02) 9516 3888; leforge.com.au HOME SPUN The Uralla Wool Room promotes Australian merino wool locally and abroad. Explore its range of garments and yarns, as well as knitting needles and patterns. (02) 6778 4226; urallawoolroom.com.au FEEL THE HEAT The sleekly designed, black ceramic-glass ‘Versa’ cooktop by Ilve gives you the best of both worlds, with…

BARBARA SWEENEY The food writer, educator and founder of the Food & Words festival has contributed to Country Style for more than a decade. For the Food & Wine Issue, our intrepid food writer visited a Queensland camel dairy (right), took a cooking class with Belinda Jeffery in the Byron Bay hinterland and grilled some of our top chefs for tips on where to eat in regional Australia. “I love writing Country Style stories,” she says. “Well, not the writing of it as much as the anticipation of the story and the getting of it — meeting the people and spending time in their lives.” Working with Joanna Savill, Barbara produced the Where Chefs Eat feature on page 102 and says she particularly enjoyed Andrew McConnell’s story about drinking wine…

A CHILDHOOD SPENT knocking around in Broome, on the north coast of WA, sounds like a dream, but for author and cook Skye McAlpine it was reality — for at least half the year, anyway. Her somewhat unconventional childhood helped build the foundations for a life where freedom, friends and sharing food are paramount. The only daughter of Lord Alistair McAlpine, a property developer and former treasurer of Britain’s Conservative Party during the Thatcher era, and Romilly Hobbs, a caterer and contributing editor to British Vogue, Skye spent her early years moving between homes in Australia and the English countryside. In 1990, the family moved to Venice following an IRA attack on their Hampshire home. Lord McAlpine was fundamental to Broome’s development, building the famous Cable Beach Club, which opened…

ANDREW TONGUE KNEW he wanted to buy Kiloren as soon as he and wife Vicki Middleton turned into the tree-lined driveway. The couple had been searching for a cool-climate garden for some time. “We’d explored country Victoria and parts of Tasmania, but it wasn’t until we moved back to Canberra from Melbourne that we thought about the Southern Highlands,” says Vicki, who grew up in the Blue Mountains near Sydney and then Chinchilla in Queensland. Andrew had a city upbringing but it was his long-held dream to have a garden — particularly a walled garden — with cool-climate trees. “We wanted a garden in a climate where you could grow apples,” Vicki explains. When they set off for Kiloren at Crookwell, about 90 minutes drive from their home in Canberra,…

Annie Smithers’s approach to celebrating local produce at Du Fermier has transformed Trentham into a regional food destination. A touch of copper adds a modern edge to handcrafted ceramics and the patina of beautifully worn timber.…

BELINDA JEFFERY IS unpacking copper saucepans from a large box and arranging them on the stovetop while her husband and ‘roadie’ Clive is writing out the day’s menu in white chalk on a blackboard. He pauses and asks how to spell risoni. The answer sings through the air: “One ‘s’ and one ‘n’.” Two Turkish olive barrels, filled with tall stems of grevillea and palm fronds collected from a friend’s garden, stand as welcome columns by the front door. Kitchen equipment — sets of measuring spoons and cups and microplanes — lies in neat rows on a table and the kitchen worktop is covered with wooden chopping boards, linen aprons and shiny Furi knives. The couple is setting up for one of the cooking classes that Belinda presents in the…

“Four out of five Australian women say that their hair affects how they feel about themselves.” WHEN ANNE HATHAWAY had her lustrous locks chopped off for a scene in Les Misérables, she was apparently inconsolable. The Oscar-winning actress was reduced to tears because she felt the pixie cut changed her identity. According to hair-care brand John Frieda, we are all in the same boat: its research shows that four out of five Australian women say that their hair affects how they feel about themselves. A fair call, perhaps, when you consider that few of us just wash and go. We spend hours managing our locks, whether it be battling brittle ends, adding volume or worrying about thinning, because the desire for shiny strands is universal. The latest expert advice is…

“WITH JUST ONE PLANT IN THE GARDEN, YOU CAN LAVISH PERSONAL ATTENTION AND QUALITY TIME.” WE PLANTED A PUMPKIN THIS YEAR. No, no, just a pumpkin. We were going to put the other vegetables in after the rain came. It didn’t. It was so dry, the trees were following the dog around saying, “Me next, me next.” It wasn’t always like this. If our vegetable garden was in the city, the council would build a block of flats on it. It’s so big we once flirted with the idea of getting into niche horticulture. Garlic, chillies, saffron — that sort of caper. That plan was derailed by The Chosen One’s brilliance. I included her in the project development meeting and asked what she thought we should be producing. “It needs…

Interior enthusiasts showed their love for the kitchen at Todd and Tammy Baird’s home in Lindisfarne. Todd of @walterandco and Tammy of @thedrillhallemporium opted for French oak flooring paired with subway tiles. Follow us on Instagram @countrystylemag Photography @markroperphotography Styling @lee_blaylock Our annual Kitchen and Bathroom issue offered inspiration for your next kitchen, bathroom or laundry renovation, plus tips on how to choose the right flooring. We also visited Mudgee wine country, got style advice from Michelle Glew Ross of @mygeneral_store and introduced the first instalment in our new Holiday Hunter travel series, featuring Rhiannon Taylor of @inbedwith.me Photography @markroperphotography Styling@tess.newman.morris NEW NORFOLK DELIGHT What a pleasure it was to read On the Move: New Norfolk. This village was a highlight of our recent Tassie holiday. The Drill Hall Emporium…

THINK ABOUT CAMELS in the Australian landscape and the most likely picture that will spring to mind is a camel in the outback. Middle Eastern and Indian traders brought camels, one of the oldest domesticated animals on the planet, to Australia in the 1800s and they formed part of the exploration party led by Burke and Wills in 1860. Camels were also used in major construction projects and to transport goods in remote areas, though eventually they were replaced by motor vehicles in the 1920s. If you’ve visited the Northern Territory or central Queensland you might have seen camels in the wild; Australia has the only population of feral dromedary camels in the world. Or perhaps your knowledge of Australian camels has come from Robyn Davidson’s 1980 book Tracks, about…

PALISA ANDERSON HAS gone from enthusiastic gardener — someone who plants out whatever patch of soil they can sink their hands into, wherever they happen to be living — to fully fledged market gardener with 46 hectares in the Byron Bay hinterland. Palisa’s desire to grow food seriously first took hold six years ago when she replaced her camellias and roses with fruit trees and ripped up the lawn to install a chicken run in the garden of the Sydney duplex she shares with husband Matt, their children Soraya, nine, and Arthur, eight. The project started out innocently enough as a garden that would feed her family (an unintended consequence was fattening up the local wildlife; possums were regular visitors to the garden). As the garden blossomed, so did Palisa’s…

1 Natural Curiosities Audubon Birds wall art #15 (top) and #1, from $525, from Coco Republic. 2 Tinsmith soap dish, $45, from The Society Inc. 3 Copper colander, $90, from Williams-Sonoma. 4 Freshwater outdoor shower set, $1350, from Brooklyn Copper Co. 5 Natural Beige and White Sprinkled cowhide rug, $495, from NSW Leather Co. 6 Porters wall hook, $20, from The Society Inc. 7 Äpplarö 3-seat outdoor sofa in brown stained and Hällö Beige, $465, from IKEA. 8 Arabella baskets, $195 a set, from GlobeWest. 9 Malawi chair, $480, from Orient House. 10 Feuerhand Germany Storm lantern in Bronze, $69, from Homecamp. 11 Mediterranean Fig bath salts, $45.99, from Plain and Simple Australia. For stockist details, see page 132.…

WHEN NICK RAITT decided he wanted to be a chef at age 17, he thought his chosen career would allow him to travel the world. He certainly never dreamt he’d end up in northern Tasmania, but he’s now extremely glad that he did. As we talk, he’s sitting outside the restaurant at Josef Chromy Wines, just south of Launceston, where he’s been head chef since September 2016. “The leaves on the vines are all red and yellow, and they’re just harvesting the last of the grapes from the lot in front of the restaurant,” says Nick, now 37. It’s a beautiful location — the vineyard is planted on grassy hills that slope down to a small lake with a pretty rotunda on the shore. Overlooking this scene is the restaurant,…

ALTHOUGH SHE WAS born in the UK, the daughter of an English lord, Skye McAlpine feels most at home in the Italian city of Venice. It’s where she grew up, from the age of six, after her family moved there for a year in 1990, seeking a safe haven following an IRA attack on their Hampshire home. “We stayed longer than a year; we’ve never really left,” says Skye, in the introduction to her first cookbook, A Table in Venice. “Venice has always been home, and over time I have come to think of myself as Venetian, if only by adoption.” Skye, a talented photographer, food writer and blogger, still lives in the family home — a little pink house with a green door and wooden shutters in a quiet…