Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2025 i Country Style

DO YOU BELIEVE IN COINCIDENCES? I don’t think I do. I believe everything happens for a reason. My most recent ‘coincidences’ happened during a House of Arras event at the Art Gallery of New South Wales to celebrate the Tasmanian wine producer becoming the gallery’s official sparkling provider. I arrived expecting to know no-one but instantly recognised Natalie Hazel. Earlier that day, I had looked through images of Natalie’s home in Berry on the NSW South Coast. I’d decided to include it in the October issue of the magazine, which I excitedly told her. What I didn’t reveal to Natalie was that an image of the front of her lovely home, featuring her beloved cavoodle Darcy – or “my little shadow” as she affectionately refers to him – was going…

GROWING NOSTALGIA I immediately identified with Fiona Weir’s August column, Live Long & Prosper. I have fond memories of my maternal grandma, who always tended an African violet on her kitchen windowsill. My mum also grew Chain of Hearts, hanging them around the house – I remember them dangling from any shelf she could find! Fiona, I recently purchased a Chain of Hearts plant, reminiscent of my childhood. So far, it has been easy to care for. It’s lovely and long, trailing ‘chains’ of heart-shaped leaves over my kitchen bench. Catriona Pollock, Beaconsfield Upper, Vic INSPIRED JOY I just wanted to send a heartfelt thank you for the beautiful August issue of Country Style. On a quiet, rainy Saturday, I finally had the time to try Tilly Pamment’s spiced apple…

green light Black Blaze’s new trays and vases in Verde Alpi marble are sleek, sculptural and luxurious. From left: the Forma square tray, $129, Linea small marble dish, $45, Trunk vase, $269, and Halo rectangle tray, $199, will all lend a touch of nature-inspired elegance to any shelf or table. Visit blackblaze.com.au PUP PARADE In hard-wearing waxed canvas with brass-plated hardware, the new collection of collars and leads from Outback Tails, from $29.95 for a collar, will keep your pup happy. Visit outbacktails.com settle in The Kenley armchair, $1499, is made in Australia using Zepel Fellow Oyster fabric, radiata pine and generously wide cushions for support. Slim steel legs make it sleek and refined. Visit domayne.com.au weaving a spell Handwoven rattan bases topped with memory-foam cushions make GlobeWest’s new Cloud…

IF LIVING INTENTIONALLY by your values defines a good life, Rachel Torrealba and Dean McCormack are certainly living well. They reside in Collector, NSW, a small village located halfway between Canberra and Goulburn. Here, the resourceful couple is shaping a sustainable future and tuning into nature’s ebbs and flows. Rachel and Dean’s 2000-metre-square block is modest by rural standards, but the land packs in productivity. The pair have transformed a septic drain field into a thriving micro flower farm. The towering rows of dahlias and cheerful bursts of roses and chrysanthemums are located on the western side of the homestead, an early 1900s weatherboard cottage they hauled from Victoria. The kitchen windows frame a vista of the lush, flowery grid and the Cullerin Range beyond. Outdoors, flocks of cockatoos and…

“We come here to reconnect – not just with the land, but with each other.” WHEN YOU RENOVATE a holiday home, there’s always a risk that you’ll love it enough to make it your permanent address. It’s a nice problem to have, discovered Daniela Tippett, the owner of this modern farm in Exeter – on the lands of the Gundungurra and Dharawal people – in the NSW Southern Highlands. “When we finished the project, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I think we could just live here full-time,’” she recalls. “Maybe in a few years, when our boys leave home.” Named Kerloch, the home is set on a hill among eight halcyon hectares, at the end of a long driveway off a remote country lane. At night, the landscape is shrouded…

Beetroot salad with dill & walnuts Serves 4-6 Sweet, tender beetroot is wonderful in a salad, but it does take time to cook properly. Thankfully, if you’re feeling a little lazy or pressed for time, for this salad you can also use ready-cooked vacuum-packed beetroot, which you can now find in most supermarkets. 4 large beetroot, washed and trimmed 100g (1 cup) whole walnuts, lightly toasted 1 bunch of dill leaves, picked 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt, to taste 100g Danish feta Place the beetroot in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook over medium heat for 1 hour, or until you can slide a sharp knife through the beetroot and it comes out easily. Drain the beetroot and leave until…

IT WAS BACK IN MY TRADE SCHOOL days, under the severe and humourless tutelage of our Swiss-German cookery teachers, when I first heard of the Russian salad. “Salade à la Russe,” we all parroted like prep students, gormless in our ill-fitting whites and ridiculously large toques. The recipe conjured in my mind’s eye a riotously colourful celluloid fantasy – all babushka dolls, furry hats and St Basil’s Cathedral domes. However, I could not picture which unique ingredients might be responsible for its exotic namesake. Cue a wheezy deflation when I learned that beetroot was the main ingredient. “Beetroot?” I blurted out. “The thing we put in hamburgers? That stuff from the can that Mum serves with cold meat?” Turns out, the beetroot is revered by Russians and numerous other cultures…

EVERY SINGLE ELEMENT OF Virginia Chorley and Paul Fogden’s wedding, from the engagement story to the flowers, was heartfelt and meaningful. Virginia, 48, is the founder of Ascha Jolie, a wedding and event florist in Melbourne, and met Paul, 59, who works in wholesale, through the industry. “For years we spoke almost daily,” says Virginia, “and over time our relationship shifted from professional to a close friendship and eventually something more. Our engagement wasn’t a big event, but rather a deeply meaningful moment during a difficult time in my life. I was undergoing cancer treatment, and Paul was my constant support. He proposed in November 2022, and it was a reflection of our relationship – deep, genuine, and rooted in love and resilience.” The couple’s choice of venue was equally…

AS THEY WERE ABOUT to put down a deposit on a destination wedding, Sydneysiders Nicole Aban and Emmanuel Pielago, both 27, got cold feet. Not about each other, but about a big ceremony. “We realised it wasn’t us,” says Nicole. “I couldn’t imagine walking down the aisle with all eyes on me. The stress, the expectations, the pressure. So we decided to elope! We wanted the day to be about us – intimate, meaningful and full of love, where we could be fully present with each other.” That’s exactly what they got – and at their dream venue. “We drive past Dovecote whenever we head south and admire its architecture,” says Nicole. “So when we decided to elope, it made perfect sense to do it somewhere we’d always loved.” The…

BUCKEYE Patrick Ryan, Bloomsbury, $32.99 A kiss was what it took. Just one kiss between strangers on VE day, May 8 1945, when the war in Europe ended. Cal Jenkins, happily married to Becky, managed his father-in-law’s hardware store in sleepy Bonhomie, Ohio. The strange woman (Margaret) who pressed her lips to his had a husband, Felix, serving in the navy. It didn’t end there. How were they to know? Fast forward to the fate of their respective sons – Skip Jenkins, eager to sign up for the Korean War, and Tom, who’d had enough loss and grief in his life and wanted fun and freedom. Like Midsomer Murders, whose staple is village squabbles but can rise to King Lear heights upon occasion, Ryan’s novel examines local preoccupations fluttering above…

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A REGULAR VISITOR TO Berry in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, Natalie Hazel had always admired a certain home in the historic town centre. The classic weatherboard cottage with shingles and a scalloped trim epitomised the old-fashioned character and charm that drew Natalie and her husband, Damian Reichel, back to Berry time and time again. “My husband and I met as lawyers working for the same law firm and our first weekend away was to Berry,” Natalie says. “So it’s always been very special to us.” The couple loved the South Coast region so much they bought land in nearby Gerroa and built a weekender, which they visited frequently with their three children – Amelia, 18, Sebastian, 16, and Louis, 14 – over the years. But in 2022…

“YOU’VE GOT ABOUT 10 SECONDS to put the plants down before the sun starts printing,” says fabric designer Amanda du Plessis, founder of Evolution Product. When she makes her exquisite Botanical Blueprint and Silverprint Silhouette handprinted fabrics, she starts with locally woven linen that’s been dipped in light-sensitive chemicals and spread out in the sun. She’ll have carefully composed arrangements of Indigenous plants and grasses that she’s collected from the nearby Melville Koppies with the print they will leave behind in mind. She transfers them onto the fabric the minute it’s ready – it’s an intensely concentrated few moments and Amanda works quickly and decisively. “Once they’re on the cloth, they can’t be moved around because the printing process starts immediately,” she explains. As the chemicals react to the light,…

I THINK IT CAN BE AGREED that there are few happier occasions than a wedding – and equally, few more terrifying things than being asked to make the wedding cake! Though by no means an expert in this particular genre of cake, I have made more than my fair share over the years, as well as many, many cakes of all descriptions. I can, therefore, offer some words of reassurance that this wedding cake is not in any way terrifying to make. And it is delicious – which somehow, some wedding cakes seem to forget to be! The combination of soft, light coconut cake, sharp, creamy lime curd and silky-smooth Swiss meringue buttercream is rather heavenly, and befitting of such a delightful occasion. LIME & COCONUT WEDDING CAKE Serves about…

SHARING A BOND THAT TRANSCENDS sisterhood, Susie and Lynda Holt run their business as if it’s an extension of their family. “We just love our customers,” says Susie. Having co-founded Holtsee Australia in 2017, the sisters make colourful reading glasses in bold shapes designed to empower women at every stage of life. “The whole basis of our business is to make women feel confident and fabulous about themselves,” adds Lynda. “It all started in the mid-2010s when I needed to get reading glasses, but there was nothing out there,” explains Susie (pictured above, right), 61. “I ended up with these daggy old ones from the chemist. I realised there was a big gap in the market for fabulous frames.” A few years later, Lynda, 56, found herself in the same…

IT’S A 47-HOUR DRIVE from Manilla – a small country town in New South Wales on the periphery of vast, golden plains – to the sweeping red grandeur of the Kimberley in Western Australia. This 4000-kilometre journey changed the course of Isabella Thrupp’s life in 2021, when the then-20-year-old packed her life into her car and took the scenic route, heading for a job on a remote cattle station. “I had a friend who reckoned if I came up here, I would never want to leave,” Isabella says from her home on Leopold Downs, a 500,000-hectare property an hour’s drive west of Fitzroy Crossing. “I thought, what have I got to lose? I applied for a job, and two weeks later I was driving to the Kimberley.” Throwing in her…

WHEN BRISBANE COUPLE Louisa and Al Harvey began planning a forever home for their family, including children Elsie, 14, and Oscar, 12, their checklist was fairly typical. They dreamt of a block with a north-facing aspect, room for a pool, and a short commute to schools and Al’s work. Perhaps less typical was space to raise a herd of stud bulls. “Although we both grew up in Brisbane, Al had spent time jackarooing in central and western Queensland and always wanted his own property to work,” says Louisa. “So, when we found 25 acres 30 minutes from the CBD, it ticked all the boxes.” Enamoured from the get-go by the sprawling ridge-line property in Brookfield, Qld, which lies on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbal people, Louisa and Al,…

HELLO, GARDENING FRIENDS! Here we are, right in the middle of Australia’s springtime; what a great time to talk about seeds. There is something so inherently optimistic about a seed. Clever, self-contained and with a potentially ancient blueprint, seeds deserve a moment in the limelight. The back end of the calendar in an ordinary year can feel sped-up, and this year even more so. But instead of letting instability wobble me, I’m putting seeds in soil and I’m watching them grow. Instead of buying plastic trays (and trays and trays) of seedlings ready to put in the ground, I’m opening packets of tiny seeds; hopeful things, vulnerable, more subject to failure, and so much more exciting when they succeed. Here at Buena Vista Farm, in spring we plant vegetables. We…

SPRING IS A SEASON OF RENEWAL, of bursting buds, of colour, movement and song. For our winegrowers, it’s all of that – but also a time for patience. Lots of it. For it’s a long journey from the first woolly buds peeking out in spring until picking juicy, ripe and flavoursome grapes many months later. For those growing wine in the Northern Hemisphere, the full cycle of the vine occurs in a calendar year. Pruning starts in January, with harvest in August in warm regions, through to October or November in cooler zones. Us southerners have to straddle two years; pruning is underway as I write this in late July, with budburst beginning when you’ll be reading this issue. Fruit set will follow with the minuscule bunches formed, and they’ll…

EVEN IF YOU’RE A REGULAR VISITOR to Byron Bay in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Alstonville. The small village on a plateau between Ballina and Lismore is one of the region’s best-kept secrets. Locals, however, know all about Alstonville’s historic charm; the town of around 6000 people is a hub for farmers and families seeking a quiet rural lifestyle. The main street is anchored by the Federal Hotel, a beautiful Federation-era watering hole, while the plateau’s rich volcanic soil feeds pockets of ancient rainforest, and lush macadamia and avocado plantations. Recently, a fresh crop of businesses has helped to put under-the-radar Alstonville on the tourist map. One of these is Buckley’s Chance, an artisan cafe and restaurant in the…

GREY SKIES AND MISTING RAIN were no match for the joy that lit up the wedding of Amy Karaoglu and Sam Millett in March this year. After connecting on the dating app Hinge and finally making it to their first date (“I kept putting it off at first, rescheduling a few times,” Amy says), the two hit it off straight away. “I felt instantly at ease with Sam – he was calm, sweet, and made me feel like I’d known him for years,” recalls Amy of the day at a pub in 2021 when the one drink they’d planned turned into several, and then into dinner. “From that point on, we saw each other regularly and everything about being together felt natural and easy. Four years later, we still feel…

THIS YEAR, AS THE DAYS LENGTHENED and the bulbs pushed up through the damp soil, I finally stopped marking time by what we were doing last year on the farm before we moved to the river. Instead, I’m looking forward and wishing I had thrown caution (and my budget) to the wind and planted 10 lavender plants beside the back gate, because the four that I did plant are joyfully waving their purple scented heads and every time a dog rushes through them I get a whiff of peace. Likewise, the gorgeous little wax bushes I planted, near the tap where I mix the old horses’ feed, have tripled in size and their little pink flowers are luring in the bees and the little birds. Why did I not buy…