ESCAPE THE CITY Evedon Lakeside Retreat (right and below) and Skating Goose Farm (below to left) are serene places to stay for pur relaxation.
life jackets are provided in the rooms so it couldn’t get much simpler. Book your stay at evedon.com.au The Evedon Lakeside Restaurant is well worth a visit too. Open for breakfast and lunch from Thursday to Sunday and for dinner Friday and Saturday, take a seat inside by the warming fire or outside on the alfresco balcony and soak in the stunning country charm, with the bar area themed to the style of an old English pub. When exploring beyond the boundaries of the retreat, an absolute must is Green Door Wines just a 10 minute drive away on Henty Road. Located high on the slopes of the Darling Scarp, the cellar door and vineyard offer panoramic vistas of the coastal strip from Myalup to Dunsborough. But the focal point of the cellar door is the grand green door, imported from Fez, Morocco, which sets the tone for a Moorish theme. Skating Goose Farm Fergusson Valley’s latest accommodation option, Skating Goose Farm, is the ideal luxury setting for a romantic getaway or intimate retreat in the Valley. Owned by Tansy and Cameron McMurtrie, Skating Goose is situated in Lowden on a 150 acre property that the McMurtries purchased approximately five years ago after falling in love with the land. Retreats at Skating Goose Farm offer simple but luxurious, completely offgrid accommodation for adults only. At present it features just two dwellings accommodating a maximum of two guests in each, ensuring the few guests at a time 36
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FOUND | Issue 08
enjoy a particularly tranquil experience. “We opened “Honey” our first escape pod at the end of February 2021 and “Minnie” followed in August 2021,” says Tansy. “Honey and Minnie are named after and in tribute to the two Murat Matriarchs Honey and Minerva who still lived on the farm when we purchased it. Both beautiful, humble and hardworking women.” “The majority of guests are craving peaceful time in nature and time with one another, and Skating Goose Farm is the perfect place for this. We have spared no expense in making these unassuming “pods” as romantic and comfortable as possible,” says Tansy. When arriving at Skating Goose, guests will be delighted to find a charming welcome hamper including Skating Goose’s own house-made sourdough, jams, and muesli, eggs, butter, and milk, plus a bottle of wine from a local winery.
Complementing its house-made and locally sourced ethos, Skating Goose goes the extra mile to keep its footprint as light as possible too, while maintaining a luxury experience. “In being completely off-grid, using our own harvested water, composting, recycling and using minimal or no waste products, we are doing our utmost to be clean and green,” says Tansy. “We also devote considerable efforts in reforesting our land which had been previously cleared for grazing. We feel a huge responsibility as the current custodians of this land to leave it a better place whilst still sharing its beauty with our guests and I feel our guests really appreciate this.” As well as being completely enamoured by the land, the McMurtries also felt the Valley could do with an additional accommodation option to enable more visitors to spend visitbunburygeographe.com.au
