Country Style - All in the Family
Words by Barbara Sweeney. Photography by Marnie Hawson. Styling by Nicola Sevitt.
December 2018
With grandparents just up in the hill, this family farm in the Byron Bay Hinterland is an idyllic place to grow up.
Being able to watch their children head off across the paddock, with their 10-month-old heeler cross Rosie running alongside, is one of the reasons Edward Rawlings and Jeanie Wylie are farming their verdant 48-hectare property in subtropical Nashua, NSW.
That the children — Frederick, seven, Evelyn, four, and Arthur, two — can make a detour up the hill to their grandparents’ place in time for morning tea is an added bonus. Andy and Sandra, Edward’s parents, are partners in the Byron Bay hinterland property and divide their time between the farm and Brisbane, around two hours’ drive north, where their other children, daughters Emma and Polly, live with their families.
“It’s like having fairies at the bottom of my garden,” says Sandra. “The only rule is that the children need to let Mum or Dad know they’re coming up. They drop in unannounced so we’ll have cheese and biscuits and talk about their week. They feel very at home here.”
“It’s a bit of an old-fashioned idea,” says Edward of the arrangement. “But it works for everyone.” In 2011, after years living and working in Sri Lanka and England, Edward, 40, and Jeanie, 38, decided they wanted to return to Australia and raise a family in the countryside. Initially, they lived with Sandra and Andy at Edward’s childhood home, a small farm in Deebing Creek, near Ipswich, Queensland.
Edward and Jeanie treated the move as a trial run to test their ideas around sustainability and growing food and to see if they enjoyed farming life. The couple spent four years in Ipswich and discovered that they loved it and over time the idea of moving to a larger property grew — as did the notion of doing it all together.
Sandra and Andy had bought their Ipswich property when they married in the late 1970s but five decades on, the city had arrived on their doorstep. “When we moved there, we lived on a dirt road and were surrounded by paddocks but by the time we left, it had been consumed by housing,” says Sandra. “Andy wanted a rural bolthole, but not the responsibility of running a farm. Jeanie and Edward are making this possible. We’re just lucky we can share.”
In the two years since the extended family made the move to Nashua, their mission has been to get everyone housed. Thrift, and a desire to reuse and repurpose, were behind their decision to bring as many structures and materials from Deebing Creek as possible. It took months — and 10 removal trucks filled with their possessions. Plus, four wide-load trucks carrying sections of the original family home, a tin farmshed, and a small cottage that was once the Ipswich coach house and has nowbecome their onsite farmstay, The Cottage.
It was Andy and Edward’s idea to relocate the buildings. Deebing Creek had been sold to a developer and the structures on it were about to be demolished. “It felt so much better to repurpose them,” says Edward. “It’s all been so useful,” adds Andy, “and we’ve used everything we brought.”
When they arrived, there were two existing buildings on the property — a farmhouse, which Jeanie and Edward are in the process of renovating, and a cottage, the original farm manager’s home, where Sandra and Andy live. The cottage had a small, square floorplan with a traditional layout with small rooms, an enclosed verandah and a bathroom at the back. With the help of architect Chris Hills, who had also built the original house in Deebing Creek, and interior designer Mary Durack, both based in Brisbane, the cottage is colourful, warm and cosy. “So much of the new house is exactly as it was because we brought almost everything with us,” says Sandra. “The kitchen, the bedrooms, even the bathroom. The only thing that’s different is the view.”
Meanwhile, Edward and Jeanie’s place is a work in progress as they’ve sunk all their energy into building a viable farm business. A verandah linking the children’s bedroom wing to the main house has been built. But paint schemes and floor sanding will have to wait. For now, Edward and Jeanie’s plan is to grow food and open the farm to visitors through their new venture Frida’s Field. “We want to bring people onto the farm and create a place where the community can come together to eat,” says Jeanie. The building blocks have fallen into place with a herd of Angus Wagyu cross cattle, the start of a large market garden with rabbit-proof fencing, and lots of citrus and stone-fruit trees, including limes, oranges, peaches and plums. “It’s Edward and Jeanie’s deal,” says Andy. “But we’ve been working on it together and it’s been lots of fun.”
For more information, follow @fridas.field on Instagram.
- Sandra and Andy worked with interior designer Mary Durack on the colour scheme for their cottage. White walls contrast with colourful and patterned furnishing such as a sofa and ottoman covered in William Yeoward fabric (07) 3369 3384; marydurackinteriordesign.com.au
- Brisbane-based architect Chris Hills added and removed walls to open up the interior of Sandra and Andy’s small cottage, added a bedroom wing to the north and linked the two with a deep verandah. (07) 3870 7855.
- Encouraged by interior designer Mary Durack, Sandra brought a lot of her furniture from Ipswich to the new house. “She understands that you canmake old things look good again and that it’s all about memories.”
- Sandra and Andy worked with interior designer Mary Durack on the colour scheme for their cottage. White walls contrast with colourful and patterned furnishing such as a sofa and ottoman covered in William Yeoward fabric (07) 3369 3384; marydurackinteriordesign.com.au
- Brisbane-based architect Chris Hills added and removed walls to open up the interior of Sandra and Andy’s small cottage, added a bedroom wing to the north and linked the two with a deep verandah. (07) 3870 7855.
- Encouraged by interior designer Mary Durack, Sandra brought a lot of her furniture from Ipswich to the new house. “She understands that you canmake old things look good again and that it’s all about memories.”
