Jeremy Valentine and Grant Francis received the gardening bug while residing in a big home in Malvern, which impressed the self-described metropolis slickers and co-owners of Shag classic shops to contemplate a a lot greater life-style change.
‘We additionally needed sheep and chickens and all the opposite issues that include the romance and pull of nation life,’ says Jeremy.
They quickly received their want, buying and selling in Melbourne life for an historic 16-acre property, often known as The Stones, in Clydesdale, Victoria (positioned between Daylesford and Castlemaine) in 2013.
The Stones contains 5 buildings, the primary being the circa 1855 wattle and daub miner’s hut, now used as a backyard shed.
The primary home was in-built 1857, and was in the perfect situation of the bunch when the couple bought the property, having been sympathetically restored by the earlier house owners. ‘The opposite buildings on the property have been in varied states of decay,’ says Jeremy.
Constructed utilizing domestically quarried stone, the primary home seems straight out of the English countryside, full with a cottage-style kitchen at its coronary heart.
Restoring the stone barn has been an enormous labour of affection for Jeremy and Grant, who’ve, amongst many different upgrades, put in a brand new roof and insulation, and added a chimney and hearth of their cosy important lounge, which is crammed with arts, books, and classic porcelain.
Jeremy explains, ‘The home is sort of eclectic however with extra true Victorian finds, whereas the stone barn is a spot for all of our mid-century, modernist and postmodern treasures and collections, after which the books.’
There’s additionally a circa 1910 creamery on website (as soon as used to retailer the cream for the native butter manufacturing unit, now a potting shed) and corrugated iron milking sheds added in 1920.
Jeremy and Grant have sealed the latter, providing additional lodging for company or a quiet place to retreat from the primary home. ‘That is the area which is deliberately misplaced in time,’ says Grant.
Tending to the backyard has been each the largest job and pleasure for the couple. ‘There have been solely two components to the backyard after we arrived. We’ve pushed the backyard out to roughly three acres,’ says Jeremy.
Choosing vegetation applicable for the positioning — which experiences each sizzling dry summers and freezing winters — has been a matter of trial and error, leading to a big cactus backyard, orchard, and vegetable patches.
‘The highest stalwarts listed below are olives, lavender and rosemary, Euphorbias, Robinias, Teucriums, Correas, Azara microphylla, agaves, chilly local weather cacti, walnuts, and peppercorn bushes,’ says Jeremy.
The remaining land hosts rocky outcrops, creeks, and and sheep paddocks for a flock of dorper sheep.
You may see the The Stones backyard your self at an Open Gardens Victoria occasion on Saturday 26 and Sunday April 27.
12 years on from buying the property, The Stones stays a continuing work in progress, which is documented on the property’s devoted Instagram account @thestonescentralvictoria.
Jeremy says works aren’t deliberate prematurely, however are somewhat guided by ‘what the place tells us.’
‘We’ll in all probability at all times have one thing on the go right here,’ he says. ‘As Grant says “it’ll be good when it’s completed!”
