Table of contents for November 2021 in Country Style

With the start of November, my excitement begins to build for summer – my favourite season. I find myself daydreaming of long days spent on the beach, swimming in the ocean and taking leisurely walks along the sand. This probably explains why I couldn’t resist featuring the beautiful home of Maryann and Brian Walker in Thirroul, NSW, on page 62. To me, it’s a ‘November’ house: it’s by the coast, has a relaxed feel, and it is just lovely. Another very ‘November’ home is located at Austinville, Qld. The personality of its owners, Fiona Gunn and Clancy Palmer, imbues every corner, creating a happy, sunshiny place. Also on the property is their guest accommodation, aptly named Wee Tiny – a charming cottage that appears on our cover. Beside it is…

WA Gourmet Escape, Nov 17-21 Now in its eighth year, the Western Australia Gourmet Escape is a foodie paradise featuring 30 food-focused events across five days, all set against the backdrop of idyllic locations including the Margaret River region, Rottnest Island and Swan Valley. Attendees can glean culinary tips from celebrity chefs such as Curtis Stone, Maggie Beer, Rick Stein and Stephanie Alexander. gourmetescape.com.au Festival of Country Gardens, Nov 4-7 Taking place over four days, the Festival of Country Gardens invites visitors into 18 of the most beautiful private gardens throughout WA’s south-west. Coinciding with the end of wildflower season, this is a wonderful chance to explore the region during its prime. festivalofcountrygardens.com VIC State Rose and Garden Show, Nov 6-7 Victoria’s State Rose and Garden Show is back in…

• The interior walls are painted in Dulux Matte Antique White USA, with Dulux High Gloss Vivid White used on all windows, trims, skirtings and the entire bathroom. “It’s very simple and timeless,” says Fiona. Bayleaf by Porter’s Paints was used on the staircase. • The kitchen sink was a Gumtree find. “It’s an original Dinmore sink that a man had sitting in his yard! It has beautiful crazing in the porcelain surface and huge double bowls,” says Fiona. • The kitchen features antique pieces such as the Crown wood stove, Metters gas stove/oven, kitchen hutch and red cedar meat safe. Keen to continue the theme of past eras, Fiona made curtains to cover up mod-cons such as the dishwasher and microwave. • Clancy’s father restored the original cast-iron claw-foot…

COUNTRY KITCHEN ILVE’s Nostalgie Series ovens offer a traditional country finish combined with modern technology, including a new digital thermostat and large oven cavity for even heat distribution. Visit ilve.com.au…

GREAT DESIGN CREATES GREAT MOODS. People want their homes to look good, but the way it makes them feel is just as important. Everything that surrounds you affects you, so surround yourself only with things you love. Home is where the heart is, and a beautiful interior enhances well-being. Decorating is about self-expression and self-respect: your interior – and the way you layer furniture, objects, textiles, colours, and art – is unique to you. To be beautiful, an interior doesn’t need to be full of expensive furniture and art – quite the opposite. Ultimately, it is more important to find out what you like and what suits you. If you find a satisfying combination of space, light, colour, materials, and things, it will refresh your spirits and put a smile…

A STROLL AROUND Kirsty Wiggins’s property on the edge of Narromine, about 400 kilometres north-west of Sydney, reveals the colours and textures found in her handcrafted jewellery pieces. Twisted wire, old fence posts and sepia-toned corrugated iron have all inspired designs for her business, Dumble Collective. Even an assortment of old coins including pennies and sixpence, discovered in a wooden box under her kitchen sink, have been incorporated into her work. “I’m a bit of a bowerbird,” Kirsty says. “I might see some copper, brass, aged metals... These get me thinking about different combinations and how I can add another level of complexity.” Much like a bowerbird’s nest, she brings together elements that are both raw and refined. “If you introduce something new and shiny – like a bead, pearl…

BOX OF DELIGHTS If you live in Melbourne or the Yarra Valley, jump in quick to secure the first of the season’s lamb from Yeringberg. A wine-making family whose Yarra Valley roots date back to 1863, the de Purys offer their award-winning wine, as well as a half lamb box or a whole lamb box for delivery, which includes bone-in leg roast, rolled shoulder roast, shanks, sausages and bones for soup (or for the dog!). Visit yeringberg.com.au STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER Celebrate the start of strawberry season with a visit to Surf Coast Strawberry Fields in Mount Duneed, Vic. With 36 hectares of fruit, you’re free to roam and pick your own. Then grab a cold treat from the ice-cream bar or stock up your pantry with farm-fresh preserves and delicious…

PETITE CUISINE Meet the AGA eR3 60, perfect for smaller spaces, with two cast-iron ovens and choice of traditional hotplate or gas hob. agaaustralia.com.au CLASSIC LODGINGS Located in Orange’s heritage precinct, The Byng Street Boutique Hotel offers historic style and luxurious comfort. byngstreethotel.com.au THE PERFECT TOTE Step out with the 2duck Baby Bucket Basket. Great for the shops, beach or market, it’s the ideal everyday tote. 2ducktrading.com.au GOURMET TASMANIA Enjoy exclusive use of Coast House Tasmania, with gourmet dinners, delicious local produce and wine. coasthousetasmania.com FREE PICNIC TABLE Save on 12 delicious spring wines, plus receive a free picnic table, 2 glasses and a bottle of Gold-medal Margaret River Rosé. winepeople.com.au/6490063 NATURE’S HUES From Falcon, the UK’s number one range cooker brand, comes the Earth Colours in three shades inspired…

SUE RAMSEY Writer and copy editor Sue is a Brit who has travelled Australia, and wrote about a couple who pivoted their business during COVID-19 on page 28. As a horse-mad teenager in north London, Sue often escaped to the countryside, working in a riding stables. Now, she lives in Sydney (“with bush tracks at the end of the street”) with her husband, Norman, and two cats, Boots and Tiger. A writer and editor for more than 25 years, Sue loves chatting to people all over Australia when she’s working for Country Style. And she’s seen a lot of the country herself: “When we first arrived, we drove from Perth to South Australia via the Nullarbor in a Holden Kingswood wagon, just as they were completing the final bit of…

A LITTLE WHILE AGO, on an impulse, I posted a photo of our very messy kitchen table on my Instagram page. I hesitated. The chaos was a little mortifying and the image was a long way from Instagram’s ‘rules’ of uncluttered surfaces, clean lines and aspirational spaces. The Farmer had jokingly said a photo of the table was a pretty accurate representation of our life. I’d laughed and said, “Well, exactly, but it’s not a great photo.” Captured in that picture were two jars of mustard left over from dinner the night before, a burned-down candle, Huon pine salt and pepper shakers, and a bowl of salt crystals from the salt farm up the road. There was also a drench ‘gun’ that The Farmer had brought back from the yard…

LAST YEAR, TREE-CHANGERS Shey Newitt and Ted Tolfree were happily running their Melbourne-based salad-bar business, Crisp, from a farm in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria, after moving out of the city six years earlier. But then COVID-19 came along and the salad bars – all located in the CBD – had to close during lockdown. Shey and Ted had both previously worked for KPMG – one of the world’s largest accounting firms – so they had solid problem-solving and business skills, but inspiration for their next move came from an unexpected direction. “It gave me an idea – that there was an opportunity, not just to create a business, but to support people who were finding times challenging.” “I was out for a run near the farm one day when I…

“I keep bigger pieces neutral and use natural fibres on couches, then add a pop of colour with soft furnishings.” LILLIE HOLCOMBE NEVER THOUGHT she’d end up living in the country. She grew up on a property near Bowen and didn’t look back after leaving North Queensland for boarding school, study and a career in Brisbane. But in a happy coincidence, Lillie met her future husband, Henry, when her sister married a man from Goondiwindi, and both couples now live on neighbouring properties near Yetman, in northern NSW. “I never thought I’d fall in love with a country boy!” Lillie, 29, says. “I loved city life – being close to everything and going to cafes.” Lillie and Henry, 35, married in 2018 and live with their two-year-old son, Eustie, on…

IF YOU EVER FIND YOURSELF travelling on the Indian Pacific, keep your eyes on the landscape as the train scuttles through Bathurst in the Central Tablelands of NSW. You may just catch a glimpse of Rainham, an 1832-built Georgian manor with a faded kind of beauty, firmly planted within the gentle folds of desaturated farmland on the edge of a flood plain. Travel in the height of summer, and you will see the manor engulfed in a symphony of lush, towering blossoms. When Suzy and Richard Miller bought Rainham in 2012, it was the first time the estate had been on the market for close to a century and a half. The Millers are a talented duo who have found success in their respective musical careers: Suzy as a flute…

APPLE & CHEESE FARMHOUSE TART Serves 8 FROM THE MARKET 80g cold butter, chopped ½ cup (120g) sour cream 1 egg yolk 2 medium red apples (300g), unpeeled 300g brie 400g ricotta 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves 1 egg ¼ cup (85g) grapefruit, lime or orange marmalade, warmed 8 sprigs fresh thyme, extra FROM THE PANTRY 1⅔ cups (250g) plain flour 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard To make the pastry, process flour and butter until crumbly. Add sour cream and yolk; process until mixture comes together. Knead pastry on a floured surface until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes. Oil a 24cm round loose-based tart tin. Roll pastry between sheets of lightly floured baking paper until large enough to line the tin.…

NOOSA IS A GLOWING, golden kind of place. Its sands are soft and pale, its sunshine is bright and its air is warm and whispers of the tropics. But it has a Riviera flavour, too: where else can you hire cabanas, stroll a sophisticated shopping strip, cafe-hop all day and bar-hop all night? Timothée Lepoutre can confirm this. The new owner of Noosaville’s Gusto restaurant grew up in Lille in northern France, and worked as a sommelier in London, Sydney, Wellington and Brisbane before buying his new venture last year. “It’s got that lovely cosmopolitan feel,” he says of Noosa. “You’ve got two different aspects: you’ve got the Hastings Street area by Main Beach, which is busy, with lots of shops and beautiful restaurants – it’s sensational. And then you’ve…

LILLIE HOLCOMBE BUSINESS OWNER, 29 Country life suits Lillie, who lives on a sheep property in Yetman, NSW, with husband Henry and son Eustie. What do you love about living in the country? We’re fortunate to live near the Macintyre River, so you’ll often find us having an early dinner on the riverbank. Henry and Eustie love fishing in the boat. How would you describe your style? Effortless chic. I’m all about comfort but with an edge. Are you interested in fashion? Absolutely! I love following fashion and the latest trends through magazines, social media and online shopping (Henry says I’m very good at that!) Deep down, I always dreamt of owning my own boutique. Who are your style influences? Olivia Palermo – she looks effortlessly beautiful. I also get…

IN THE COUNTRY, we shop online. What am I saying? In lockdown, we all shop online. But in the country, online is how we prefer it. First, there’s the logistics. The $7 packaging and delivery fee is a substantial saving on the estimated $115 mileage charge to drive to the nearest shopping mall and back. But even more reassuring is the privacy factor. I once fronted up to the apparel fabrics counter at Spotlight to find a near neighbour beside me. She was buying a length of cotton lycra and a pattern for lounge wear. I was buying a few metres of cheesecloth… with which to make some cheese. But do you think she believed me? She departed, convulsed in giggles, to alert the local community that I spend my…

PLENTY HAS CHANGED in Ballarat, Vic, since 1910. Families, shops, politicians and buildings have come and gone. But for 111 years – and across five generations – one family business has been a constant in the town. “My great-grandfather started a joiner’s shop in Lyons Street in 1910,” says Andrew Mann. “I’d always seen Dad working as a joiner, and it just fell into place – I left school at about 15 or 16 to work with him, and I haven’t stopped since.” Andrew’s dad, Bruce, did things the way his father and grandfather did: hand tools, solid timber, the kinds of work – sash windows, mansard roofs, mitred joints, scarfed beams and panelled doors – that were prescribed in the old books and haven’t changed for centuries. “In the…

FIONA GUNN MET HER FIANCÉ, CLANCY PALMER, at swing dancing classes, which is fitting given the couple’s affinity for bygone eras. Clancy already had a few years’ experience when Fiona nervously walked in for the first time. “It’s always hard trying something new, but thank goodness I went because it was the perfect meeting,” says Fiona. The two bonded over a love of all things old – “music, cars, houses” – and, after several years as friends and four months of dating, Clancy announced he’d found a property for them to buy together. Fiona replied, “Okay then, let’s do it,” and once again her leap of faith paid off. In February 2016, the couple purchased the 1.6-hectare property in Austinville, located an hour’s drive south of Brisbane in the Gold…

FOUR YEARS AGO, MARYANN AND BRIAN WALKER had been toying with the idea of a sea change when an old miner’s cottage, just minutes from the beach, challenged them to take it on. The original weatherboard house, built in 1904, was nestled on bushland between the Illawarra Escarpment and the ocean at Thirroul, north of Wollongong, NSW. “It was as pretty as a picture from the outside, but inside it was not liveable,” Maryann recalls. “There was no flooring, no interior doors and no bathroom.” But Maryann, an executive with the T2 tea company, and Brian, a visual arts high-school teacher, weren’t fazed. They decided it was their “lucky break” to finally enable them to make their desired sea change. Maryann said other prospective buyers were put off by the…

“There is something about AGAs that’s nostalgic and comforting to me.” WHEN SHE WAS MOVING into her home in Franklin, Tasmania, stylist Michelle Crawford knew her kitchen needed one essential ingredient. “I have wanted an AGA since I was a child,” she says. “Maybe it’s because I spent many hours watching All Creatures Great and Small. There was always an AGA in the farmhouse kitchens, either bringing orphaned lambs back to life or being used by Mrs Hall to cook a roast for Tristan and Siegfried. There is something about AGAs that’s nostalgic and comforting to me.” Michelle’s heritage home, an Edwardian bank built in 1905 and which she describes as “huge, rambling, draughty”, seems purpose-built for the all-in-one features of an AGA, but there are few homes in which…

“I’m grateful for homegrown, chemical-free coffee in my cup.” HELLO, NOVEMBER, YOU GOLDEN MONTH of sunshine and garden abundance! In our corner of the NSW South Coast, I am chasing guinea fowl out of my summer vegie garden, scolding the kelpie for digging up my precious sprouting lily bulbs (again), and picking coffee. LOTS of coffee. When my dad retired from dairy farming just over 20 years ago, he put in a coffee grove at the back of the house garden. (He calls it a plantation, but at 90 trees I think it’s a grove. We debate this a lot.) Either way, it’s a gorgeous crop, they’re beautiful trees, and it’s an enormous labour of love to hand-pick the crop every year. Most of Australia’s coffee is grown in the…

DARING TO FLY Lisa Millar, Hachette, $32.99 If you know anyone planning a career in journalism, make sure they read Millar’s warts-and-all reveal. Since August 2019 she’s been co-presenter with Michael Rowland on ABC News Breakfast. It’s a chance to sit down after 10 years in Washington and three as bureau chief in London. During that time, natural disasters, massacres and tragedies imposed by despots happened in swift succession. Knocking on the doors of the bereaved was particularly distasteful. “How do you write an obituary for a five-year-old? And then how do you write 19 more?” Money is – erm – something of an issue at the ABC. The staff are public servants, after all, so you expect them to fly economy and stay at small hotels, while the journalists…