COOL RETREATS

ROSANNE BARRETT

Stacey Rocca knows the respite that a crisp morning can provide. The owner of Robin Hoods Well, a homestead outside Launceston in Tasmania, welcomes almost 1000 visitors every year to her home away from the bustle, busyness and heat of the cities. There she offers an outdoor lifestyle and heritage accommodation far from the challenges of urban life.

Rocca says when you’re on the mainland – in a “hot” state – you have to actually consider whether the weather will fit your plans for the day. “Here we don’t have to think about the weather,” she says. “It’s easy.” At the height of summer she carries an umbrella – “we always carry a brolly” – but the warmth never prevents people working in the garden or taking advantage of the outdoors. And at night, they snuggle up in heated blankets.

After Australia’s devastating “summer of sorrow” and widespread bushfire crisis, regional towns need a boost. Often some of our most beautiful places in the crisp cool of autumn, regional towns continue to offer unique and wonderful scenery and experiences. Mansion Australia endorses the campaigns to encourage people to return to bushfire-affected towns when they are ready, to continue to visit towns and communities and stock up on local produce from small businesses during their stay.

Across the nation, there’s a range of spectacular locations with equally spectacular homes, where residents and visitors can escape from urban life and experience a hinterland or cool escape. From the grand manors of colonial estates in Bowral to retreats in the Adelaide Hills or the cooler hinterland of the Gold Coast, residents and holidaymakers are finding refuges from the heat.

Airbnb’s country manager for Australia and New Zealand, Susan Wheeldon, says many people eschew the sand and surf for a cool country retreat. “Many Australians live for the beach – but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the occasional getaway to cooler climates during the summer months,” she says. “We definitely do see a number of guests each year looking to beat the summer heat by making their way to Tasmania or one of Australia’s many beautiful mountainous regions. “Indeed, many of our hidden gems and unique listings are nestled in these areas and regularly provide a base for travellers and their families to explore the incredible local surrounds.”

More than 175,000 people visited Airbnb sites in Tasmania last year throughout summer. Rocca’s farm is one such destination. She says visitors cite the range of activities on offer in her area that allow them to take advantage of the great outdoors. With an average top January temperature of 22C and minimums of 12C, Rocca says the area affords a lifestyle that is laidback and relaxed.

“It is a different life altogether,” she says. “We love our life in our small town. It’s easier to live, it’s easier to grow food. We’ve got outside dogs, we’ve got outside animals.”

Another bed and breakfast currently on sale in the Tasmanian capital, Hobart, is the historic Orana House, offering a homestead and boutique accommodation. The asking price is $1.990 million.

Cool escapes Beat the heat and take in one of the many spectacular getaways in cooler climes

Knight Frank agent John Blacklow says there are many mainland visitors to the island who come for the cooler weather and find a vibrant lifestyle with growing amenity and industry.

“Our average summer temperature would probably be in the low to mid 20s,” he says. “And that certainly suits a lot of people. We get a lot of people who come here on holidays from the warmer climates in NSW, Queensland or the Northern Territory, either permanently just to get out of the heat. They’re very pleasant summer days. It’s what we would consider a nice Mediterranean-style climate.”

The Lindisfarne property, 7km east of Hobart’s city centre, has almost an acre (3531sq m) of elevated land overlooking parks, the Derwent River and the Tasman Bridge. Inside, the renovated 1907 property has 10 ensuited bedrooms, guest lounge, breakfast room, laundry, kitchen, garage, workshop and store areas. There is also a manager’s residence.

“It’s a fully functional bed and breakfast facility; it has been for some time,” Blacklow says. “All the rooms are very different and they all have a different heritage feel. It’s a beautiful-looking property. The design of it is fantastic.”

He says prices in Hobart are continuing to grow, pointing to CoreLogic’s data showing the median property price is $460,033 — higher than in Adelaide. “We’re still experiencing growth – not as much growth as we had in the peak, but it’s still continuing,” he says. “We’ve never had it so good down here.”

Architect Richard Kirk says cool country retreats offer a contrasting lifestyle and landscape to urban surrounds.

“Historically, industrial cities were somewhere you wanted to escape from,” he says. “Now it is all about the experience. It’s about escaping the city and having that diversity of experiences.”

Kirk points to the bigger difference between day and night temperatures, as well as higher elevations, as ensuring the climate does not become too hot. This has implications for home architecture, as does the importance of bushfire resilience, to design in passive heating, cooling and protection. “The challenge is how to enhance that experience of the landscape through architecture,” he says. Managing bushfire risk is a specialist field that requires high-quality skills, he says. In the Adelaide Hills, less than an hour’s drive from the capital, there is a marked contrast with the heat of the capital. Average January maximum temperatures are 5C cooler at a median of 24.9C, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and the minimums are 6C less at 11.5 degrees. This has long made the wine-growing region a popular destination, not only as a retreat but as a vibrant food and wine district. Recent bushfires affected homes around Cudlee Creek.

Sotheby’s International Realty principal in South Australia Grant Giordano says the region offers the beauty of changing seasons in a spectacular natural environment.

“Since very early on (in the state’s colonial history), from the 1840s, it was the escape of the aristocracy and an escape or a retreat from the heat, with the climatic differences and the tree cover due to the elevation,” he says. “It has different seasons.”

Given the region’s European history, the range of properties also varies, from country estates to modern contemporary houses. Giordano says there are English-style manor estates with the dimensions and spectacular gardens of an aristocratic property that cannot be found elsewhere because the Hills environment is unique. And there are increasing numbers of contemporary homes that blend into their landscape, he says, pointing to an architecture awardwinning home on Williams Road in Heathfield designed by Woods Marsh. The five-bedroom design curves into its 6.47-acre setting, forming a striking residence set into the hillside.

“This is a living, breathing piece of art that’s uber contemporary,” Giordano says. “But it’s not an imposition on the landscape, it works with the landscape..”

South of the Blue Mountains, in the NSW Southern Highlands, residents and visitors flock to the seasonal beauty of a region that offers cold winters and summer nights cooler than in coastal areas. Since the colonial era, Sydney residents have travelled or lived in the highlands to enjoy the peace and quiet of a rural area that offers the opportunity for livestock, animals and a large property while being close to the amenity of the city. It has attracted the likes of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Jimmy Barnes and Mike Cannon-Brookes.

One property with the best of both worlds is an Oxley Drive, Mittagong, landholding with two separate residences. The main manor, Hazelwood House, is a two-storey granite and sandstone home on two-and-a-half acres just five minutes from Bowral, with four bedrooms, an impressive kitchen, a tennis court and a pool. An adjoining sandstone cottage also features its own pool and spectacular gardens. Herron Todd White residential property valuer Kurt Bismore says the region’s prestige market of more than $3 million was performing well, generally due to the flow-on effect from the higher end of the Sydney market, adding that the market to the end of 2019 was quite stable.

“There have been some very big sales going down from the who’s who of Sydney,” he says.

“Buyers are back around and agents seem to be moving things on as long as they’re priced reasonably.”

In the Gold Coast Hinterland region, not only are the night-time temperatures cooler, but there are coastal breezes and easy access to the city’s famous beaches. Currumbin Valley, despite its name, offers elevated landholdings where contemporary homes capture views to the highrise skyline of the Gold Coast. One Brocks Road property, on sale for $2.9 million, is a Housing Institute of Australia award-winning five-bedroom home designed by Paul Uhlmann on 3.67ha.

Ray White agent Laura Robinson says the area is a “secret hideaway” that enjoys beautiful breezes.

“People fantasise and want to live there,” she says. “You have all this space around you yet you can see civilisation if you’re elevated.

“It’s a Lotto dream. You can live and not have that hectic lifestyle. You can be who you are.”

20 HUNGERFORD LANE, KINGSCLIFF, NSW 248720 HUNGERFORD LANE, KINGSCLIFF, NSW 2487

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KINGSCLIFF BEACH HOUSE IN DRESS CIRCLE LOCATION 180 DEGREE VIEWS FROM COASTLINE TO HEADLAND KINGSCLIFF BEACH HOUSE IN DRESS CIRCLE LOCATION 180 DEGREE VIEWS FROM COASTLINE TO HEADLAND

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