WORDS VIRGINIA IMHOFF

PHOTOGRAPHY

LISA COHEN

STYLING

TESS NEWMAN-MORRIS

THE OVERFLOW, A MODERN Australian farmhouse shaded by wide verandahs, received its name in recognition of the owner’s grandparents, who had always encouraged her move to the country. “They loved Banjo Patterson and the poem Clancy of the Overflow,” explains Clare. And move she did, to 111 hectares of land set in the rolling hills of the Macedon Ranges in Central Victoria.

The home grew out of the meeting of like minds. When Clare met her husband in 2010, they quickly realised they were on the same path in life. “On our first date, we had a frank discussion and found we were very much on the same wavelength,” the 33-year-old explains. “We both found Melbourne full-on, and we loved the idea of space, and of creating something of our own.”

She says leaving Melbourne “was never a negotiation for us — it was always something we both wanted to do”. Their one issue was settled with a compromise. “My family is from Metung, East Gippsland, and I’m more of a boating girl. My husband was from the country around Kyneton, so we had to meet in the middle — but it was a prerequisite to have water on the property, so we’ve got a dam to go paddleboarding on!”

However, it was to take two years to find the ideal place, which they did finally in 2012. “We had certain criteria that included being an hour from Melbourne, so the commute wasn’t too drastic, and we needed a minimum of 100 acres to get a permit to do a new build — it was a bonus when we got substantially more,” she says. “When an agent brought us here, there was a little bit of a track on the land, broken fences, wildlife and not much else. We drove up to this spot where we could see the top of Mount Macedon and the Jim Jim right in front of us. It was instant — we both said this is the spot where we’ll be building!” (The Jim Jim is a small mountain near the infamous Hanging Rock.)

They also agreed when it came to the style of home they wanted to bring up their family in. “We always had a pretty good idea that it was to be traditionally Australian with a verandah for the heat and a high rating for bushfires, with cement sheeting weatherboards and tiles on the outside decking, and because it gets so cold in the winter we needed hydronic floor heating — and with the perspective of the house being practical and durable for a mum and kids.” They have three boys — Banjo, six, Woody, four, and Sidney, one.

As they started planning in collaboration with Clare’s close friend Amy Spargo of Maine House Interiors, who did the spatial planning and interior design, they visited on weekends and holidays, camping in the paddocks. “We started planting more than 100 English trees, and a driveway lined in pin oaks, and wanted to establish the trees that would take longer to grow early on,” Clare says.

Building started at the end of 2017 and the family had moved in by October 2018. For Clare, the five-bedroom, off-grid, solar-powered house is as easy for entertaining guests and as it is for a busy family. “For me, it was all about practicality and comfort as well as making sure that outside was somewhere that we’d enjoy sitting for long summer lunches where the boys can play and we can still see them. We have an acre and a half of grass around the house and I can see through the windows where they are. I’ve got a laundry with two washing machines and a butler’s pantry as we wanted to host and entertain and to be able to have a couple of families come to stay comfortably.”

The soaring ceilings in the open kitchen and living area are supported by heavy trusses — “that was one of our musts, we wanted a really open, high roof, and I wanted the trusses for that farmhouse look” — and the stone chimney and recycled timber mantel designed by Amy Spargo adds to the rural feel. The cool interior palette takes cues from a GJ & P Baker fabric, Nympheus, that resonated with Clare and her love of the land. “I thought this fabric had beautiful country colours and I wanted to base the interior around that — I’m not a pink girl, and have four boys to think of!”

“Clare is attached to the land and I took the inspiration from that,” Amy says. “I found the grounding fabric, which captures the beautiful greens and blues and mustards. I think it’s important to bring a bit of life to the space as well and being young people who were building their forever home, it was to have that element of fun around them. The idea behind the furnishings was that she could mix and match and move everything around.”

For the couple, The Overflow has been a six-year labour of love. While Banjo and Woody are now in primary school and kindergarten in nearby Mount Macedon, agisted sheep graze in the paddocks and they’ve found a much slower pace here than in the city, there’s never an idle moment.

“We feel a lot of freedom here and we don’t feel obligated to get out the door and down to the park every day; we can hang out at home,” Clare says. “I’m a big potterer, and there’s something nice about not having to rush around. I spend a lot of time in the vegie patch, and we do a lot with the kids out on the truck, and bike riding, or they help in the garden. Living on a farm with three little boys, there’s always something to do.” ■