Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2023 i Country Style

As a new year begins, my wish is that everyone gets to enjoy a summer holiday. It’s a difficult time for those on the land to get away, I know, but I hope at least a short break to recharge the batteries is possible. If I had a magic wand, I’d wave it and transport everyone to a beach house like the one on our cover – especially those affected by the recent floods. As I write, stories are coming in about the resulting devastation in Victoria and New South Wales. Our deputy editor, Hannah James, spoke to photographer Kim Storey, who lives on a property near Eugowra. The water hit her farm before it swept through the town, rising a metre in 15 minutes. With no time to get…

WHAT SHOULD HAVE been one of the happiest moments of Louise O’Neill’s life turned out to be one of the most stressful. On the cusp of welcoming her first son into the world, Louise stood helpless beside her husband, Warren, as he broke down in the paddock. The farmer was in the middle of seeding when his stress and frustration broke the dam walls he’d built up inside. “Not only did our machinery suffer a breakdown, but Warren did too, right there in the cropping paddock,” Louise says. “He hit rock bottom and didn’t know where to go or what to do. If seeing your husband reach that point doesn’t inspire you to make a change, I don’t know what will.” She decided that if her partner could fall through…

FLINDERS VIC LAURA AGOSTINO HAPPILY recalls the end-of-year ritual she enjoyed with her two daughters, Josie and Lucy, when they were little. The week before Christmas, the then-single mum would take her girls to the quiet seaside village of Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. Well ahead of the holiday crowds, they’d scour the boutiques and galleries for unique gifts and lounge around on the near-empty beaches. “Everybody would be busy rushing around back in Melbourne, getting all their last-minute things, and we’d have the beaches to ourselves,” says Laura, 42. “It was just so idyllic.” In 2015, on one of those pre-Christmas getaways, Laura found a big block of land for sale, one of a handful left after the village’s caravan park was subdivided. “It was in a…

GO ELECTRIC Top chefs, including Neil Perry, have joined health experts and climate groups to form the Global CookSafe Initiative, which advocates cooking with electricity instead of gas. Lendlease is also on board, pledging to install all-electric kitchens in new buildings in OECD countries by 2030. Visit cooksafecoalition.org If you’re looking for an induction cooktop, Ilve’s 900mm 4 Zone Induction Cooktop is available from Harvey Norman. from little things When Australian clothing brand Seed Heritage launched homewares last year, the range was an immediate sensation. We love the clean lines, versatile shades and premium quality of its Lou dinner set. Visit seedheritage.com THINK PINK It’s another hit for award-winning Never Never Distilling Co. For their Ginache, the South Australian gin geniuses add grenache grapes from McLaren Vale to their Triple…

Kate Marwick CO-OWNER, EMU POINT CAFE “I found a love for business and seeing potential where others may not.” MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE $435,000 MEDIAN RENTAL PRICE $420 per week BY THE NUMBERS “There are good employment opportunities coupled with a safe environment, great services and a general feeling of prosperity and growth in the town,” says Darren Leslie, general manager of Ray White Albany. “The Albany region provides a wonderful array of property types, including larger, lifestyle-size land holdings through to contemporary estates and original heritage-style, inner-city homes.” OPPORTUNITY CALLS Albany is located roughly five hours’ drive south of Perth. The region’s agriculture, forestry and fishing industries account for more than 20 per cent of businesses, while healthcare and social assistance is the largest industry by employment. The gross regional…

NEXT DOOR TO THE PUB in the tiny town of Nevertire, in New South Wales, a run-down shop sat empty for 70 years. Once a garage, then a convenience store, it was ripe for a refresh – and Kat Montgomery, 30, was just the person for the job. Kat grew up on a 16,000-hectare farm on the Hay Plains. After finishing boarding school, she spent time in France, Sydney and Melbourne, then headed for Dubbo and a job in banking. That’s where she met her husband, Tod, at a barbecue. He soon brought Kat to Nevertire, north-west of Dubbo, where he grew up at Fairview, his own family farm, a 4000-hectare broadacre cropping and livestock property. And the rest is history – the pair had a big country wedding in…

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AMY NORTHCOTT Amy grew up in South Australia and now works in Sydney as a writer. This issue, she shared the story of merino wool advocate Vanessa Bell on page 32. Growing up in the Barossa Valley, Amy, 26, loves travelling home to spend time in wine country. “There’s nothing like being surrounded by rows of vineyards, plus the fresh air and tranquillity – it’s something I look forward to when I go home,” she says. Moving to Sydney after graduating from her degree in journalism, Amy spent the first years of her career as a wine and travel writer, before a recent move to the design and architecture space. “I love connecting with people and sharing their stories, and nothing brings me more joy than seeing the happiness it…

VANESSA BELL’S STORY was always going to be entwined with merino wool. It started in the late 1980s during her time as a high-fashion model, when she found herself drawn to the quality of the fibre in garments she modelled. “I loved my time in fashion – it’s where I fell in love with merino wool through so many designers, such as Valentino and Armani, using it in their collections,” says Vanessa, 50. “They always used merino wool because it wears beautifully and has this wonderful elegance – it’s a gorgeous fibre to work with.” After returning home to Australia, Vanessa had her second brush with merino wool when she married Philip, 56, a merino wool farmer. They now live at Cooplacurripa Station, a 24,000-hectare cattle farm. But it was…

JENN AND RYLEY BLISS were destined to build a beach house at Anna Bay in New South Wales, just as they were destined to meet on the other side of the world eight years ago. South African-born Jenn literally “bumped into” Ryley at a bar at Split in Croatia. Ryley was travelling with two mates and Jenn was working as a stewardess on a 60-metre yacht with a crew of 12 that was sailing around the Mediterranean. “The yacht very rarely came into port,” Jenn, now 32, says. “But this time, the owner randomly wanted to stop in port and said we could have the night off. It was very peculiar – we hadn’t had a night off in months. That’s how I bumped into Ryley. Our paths were just…

THIS MONTH’S COLUMN IS BROUGHT to you by the love of lawnmowing, or more specifically, the love of the people on the mowers. We lost my beloved dad recently after a short illness and, even though he was 84 years old, it felt sudden and unexpected. Really, though, I think Malcolm Weir intended to shuffle off this mortal coil while mowing the lawn. That was the impression I got from the way he drove that ride-on lawnmower – and from the few times he managed to slide it down the hill into the electric fence. He loved mowing. He took it seriously and took care of that mower like it was one of his tractors, hay balers or slashers. In his heart, my dad was a farmer all his life,…

THERE’S A THEORY, neither scientific nor widely held, that says everything you drink chilled tastes better within sight of significant water. It’s my theory and as such, I’ve done more than most to put this to the test. Magnums of Provencal rosé consumed in beachside bars along the Med, with the sun bouncing off the shiny decks of oligarchical superyachts and the full gamut of Euro semi-nudity sprawled over the pebbly sand in front of you, will never taste the same in your lounge room back home. A great gin and tonic, mixed by a hand unfamiliar with moderation, can sometimes seem like the primary reason swimming pools and sunlounges were invented. A clean, crisp beer, served colder than a text message that reads, “I’m leaving you,” is the perfect…

“Gently gliding at The Laird’s top speed of walking pace up the dark, still waters of the Oxford Canal, I felt elated.” THE URGE TO BE somewhere else has always been with me. This year’s medicine for the soul, I decided, would be a two-month adventure through the English countryside on a 15-metre narrowboat. About 20 years ago, my uncle Jim would drive me round the moors of south-west England, spotting wild ponies and reminiscing about life aboard his own narrowboat. With his dog for company and a mobile job dealing antiques, to keep him in diesel, warm beer and pies, he was a self-described vagabond. His free life inspired me: endless stretches of aloneness, cruising at walking pace aboard a floating home… I wanted it. A Google search, a…

THE ONE AND ONLY DOLLY JAMIESON Lisa Ireland, Michael Joseph, $32.99 Well, at least the air’s not musty with herbicides in Dolly’s toolshed. Trouble is, the owners don’t know she’s living there, and when they find out they’re not going to stand for it. At 78, Dolly’s not down and out. She’s got strategies. But next time you’re in a park, a library or a mall, look around. You see a person far too interested in the passers-by? That’s the social life of a homeless person. Dolly offers kindly assistance to an expensively dressed woman in a library. (As a matter of fact, Dolly’s coat is a Givenchy, but shabby and not clean.) A friendship blossoms. Each has something to offer the other. We trawl back to Dolly’s childhood, her…

OKAY, SO THE remains of the Christmas ham are gathering flies over the fence. The turkey scraps are in the bin. The trifle and pavlova are still hiding in the fridge but are the next to go. And the untouched brussels sprouts are now being eyed with disdain by the chooks. Welcome to National Dieting Month (2), when the excesses of Christmas indulgence lie heavily on the hips and the conscience. Regrets, I’ve had a few… but not as many as those damned sugared Christmas cookies. Someone in our house once performed a little ditty that went: “’Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house; Not a garment would fit me, not even a blouse.” National Dieting Month (1) is in October, when the new season’s swimwear is…

WHISKED AWAY I live in the ’burbs, but I love to escape every month with Country Style. The story on Jo Wakelin’s New Zealand garden in the November issue (Earth Meets Sky) was absolutely breathtaking. After a hectic week, I found myself transported by the photos of this beautiful garden framed by the mountains of Central Otago. Country Style has become my travel guide. Between reminders of the beauty of the South Island of NZ, and all the suggestions of regional towns to visit and historic homes to stay in all over Australia, I look forward to future travels. Thank you for a wonderful escape each month.Tiffany Daly, Graceville, Qld SEASON OF JOY I started my day a little anxious, thinking about all the things I need to plan for…

A DAY IN THE COUNTRY THERE ARE TWO domestic tasks that bring me great delight: one is mowing the lawn; the other is a washing line full of clean clothes. The lawnmowing is pretty obvious – it hardly counts as a job, especially with a ride-on mower. But the washing, well, it’s a task I’ve had to grow into. I used to hate the bottomless laundry basket. The hours spent sorting, washing, pegging and folding seemed an invisible time suck and the clothes never stayed clean! That’s a lot of hours of resentment. But somewhere along the way I shelved my resentment and allowed myself to take pleasure in the task. My washing machine is a thing of beauty. It’s nearly 20 years old and the hardest-working appliance in the…

WEYMOUTH TAS EVEN IN TASMANIA, Weymouth flies under the radar. This tiny township set around the mouth of the Pipers River is a place where time passes quietly to the pulse of the tides. For Heidi McCabe, it’s paradise. Her grandparents owned one of the first shacks built in Weymouth, just under an hour from Launceston and located on the traditional land of the Trawoolaway people, and her childhood memories are full of holidays spent crabbing at low tide and playing in the sand dunes with her siblings. As an adult, the pull to Weymouth never waned: “My siblings and I would continue to come down and stay at the shack,” Heidi says. “Then came our partners, husbands and our own children – we often had four generations all under…

“Lunch is usually the largest meal of the day. We all gather around the fire while the main meal is cooking and snack on empanadas.” LOCAL PRODUCE seared over glowing coals is the star in Argentina’s most beloved lunchtime indulgence. The asado, or Argentinian barbecue, is a world-famous institution – and unlike some culinary classics, it’s one still enjoyed by locals on a regular basis. “We all gather around the fire while the main meal is cooking and snack on empanadas (a stuffed savoury pastry),” explains Santiago Socrate, executive chef of Byron Bay’s Barrio Eatery & Bar, of his nation’s delicious tradition. “Many meats are thrown on the barbecue, but my favourite is butterflied chicken with salsa criolla.” And the best barbecues are family affairs. “Usually my aunty will bring…

THE OAKS RANCH MOSSY POINT, NSW As you drive up the tree-lined road, The Oaks Ranch comes into view. The hacienda-style building features the white walls, tiled roof and curved lines you’d expect, but it also carries a distinct Palm Springs feel, thanks to the adjoining nine-hole golf course. What makes it typically Australian are the kangaroos hopping around the grounds and the mob in the paddock across the road. Step inside The Oaks Ranch and the cool, calm interiors instantly put you at ease. Enjoy a welcome drink in the cosy lounge, where you can see into the stylish bar and restaurant, Arlo. Olive-green shades link to the terrace outside where guests can also dine. The menu is, of course, a showcase of local NSW South Coast produce. During…