Photography: Leon Schoots | Styling: Belle Hemming Bright
Tomato farm, apple orchard, stone fruit farm, sheep farm: this property in Harcourt, in the Central Highlands of Victoria, has had many identities over the last century, but its latest era as a charming country hideaway might just be its best. Owners Lisa and Neil Arrowsmith were searching for a weekender when they came across the four-hectare property in the foothills of Mount Alexander in 2016. “It was the most horrible, cold, dreary grey day when we came for the open inspection, and we were running late,” recalls Lisa.
“But when we drove down the kilometre-long drive we looked at each other and thought, ‘Ooh, this looks promising!’” Lisa, 63, who works in a museum, and Neil, 69, the CEO of a retail design company, had viewed many properties located under two hours’ drive of their base in East Melbourne, but hadn’t found anything that sparked their imagination. All it took was a quick look through the house and a turn around the garden in the rain and they knew they’d found the one.
The home’s mountain views and garden with its established fruit trees were major drawcards, but the clincher was the farmhouse, built in 1917, and the outbuildings including a traditional apple-storage barn (Harcourt was once the premier apple-growing region of Australia) and a woolshed. “We love everything old,” Lisa explains. “We’ve both always loved old houses and we wanted one in the country, with a big garden that we could get stuck into.”
Part of the home’s instant appeal was the lack of work it presented: “When we did that first inspection, we both said, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to be done here, the house is perfect,’” Lisa says. But after moving in, they started to see where they could make improvements. “We’ve opened it all up because, like a lot of older houses, there were a number of small, connected rooms,” says Lisa.
“On the north side, which is a lovely aspect with a lot of glass, there was a bathroom. So we pulled that out and opened up a lot of doorways, and now we’ve got one really big living space that’s split into two with the kitchen in the middle. And that’s just made the house so much more liveable.”
It’s not just the structural changes that have made it a lovely place to be, but Lisa’s decorative flair. A lifelong collector, she’s filled the house with treasures and curios sourced in Australia and overseas, from Indian balloon moulds and Moroccan rugs to birdcages and mid-century swan planters. Mirrors and preserved butterflies sit above the couch on one side of the living area, while books and painted trays decorate the other.
In the kitchen and butler’s pantry, copper pots, vintage bread boards and a cache of porcelain are on display. “I get so much pleasure from rearranging and trying different things together and changing the feel of a room,” Lisa says. “When you’re a collector, you’ve got lots of props that you can mess around with.”
That sense of fun is evident throughout the house, and especially in the main bathroom, now located in the centre of the home in what was previously a windowless music room. Lisa has dubbed it the “waterfowl room” after a taxidermy Cape Barren goose that hangs from the ceiling amid verdant creeping vines and a pink-eyed duck that sits on the mantelpiece.
“I love antiques stores, and I’m an auction addict,” says Lisa of her unique collections. “I worked for a number of years at Kabinett in Kyneton, a kind of vintage department store, and I was never cash positive – there was too much temptation!”
When they first bought the farm, Neil and Lisa were only visiting Harcourt on the weekends and were kept busy with gardening and odd jobs. “We’d go home on Sunday night exhausted,” Lisa says. When COVID arrived, that all changed; their adult children moved back into their city home, and Lisa and Neil escaped to the country. “It was just meant to be for a couple of months and now we’ve reversed our life,” says Lisa, “so we have five nights a week here and two nights a week in East Melbourne.”
It’s meant they now have time to fully embrace the country lifestyle, visiting wineries, walking with their dog Luigi and exchanging gardening tips and produce with neighbours at the local general store. They still spend plenty of time in the garden – with the help of the previous owner, who has been happy to lend a hand, they’ve doubled the number of trees on the property, adding a spectacular avenue of pear trees down the driveway and plenty of autumn colour.
“There’s an orchard with stone fruit, apples and mulberries, and we’ve got a pomegranate hedge and a little pistachio orchard in one of the paddocks,” Lisa adds. “I love preserving, so there’s plenty of produce if I need it.” And now that they’re on the farm more permanently, they can also keep a few chickens, Indian runner ducks and Sebastopol geese. “They’re just adorable. Every day we laugh at them,” Lisa says.
Local wildlife such as kangaroos, echidnas and a wide array of birds also bring them daily joy. But what Lisa and Neil love most is sharing their country home with others. Their five kids and grandchildren visit often and they regularly entertain friends. It’s another happy chapter to add to this farm’s eclectic story.
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