HAVEN IN THE HILLS
KERRY WATSON AND DAVID MUMBY’S DREAM TO LIVE A MORE SUSTAINABLE LIFE IN THE COUNTRY HAS COME TRUE AT THEIR RED HILL PROPERTY IN VICTORIA.
Kerry Watson and David Mumby’s dream home in Red Hill, Victoria, doubles as a bed and breakfast.
“I love the fact that we have the best of both worlds, and we’re living a more balanced lifestyle.”
WHEN YOU HEAR that someone has ‘the best of both worlds’ it usually means they’ve found that harmonious, and so often elusive, balance in life. Those words certainly ring true for Kerry Watson and her husband David Mumby when talking about the life they have carved out for themselves in Red Hill on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. “I work part-time in the city about an hour away, yet we live off the land here,” says Kerry, 56, who works as a communications adviser for the Victorian Government’s Department of Economic Development. “I love the fact that we have the best of both worlds, and we’re living a more balanced lifestyle... we feel very blessed.” Haven Red Hill, the property the couple bought in 2009 as a free-range chicken farm, sits on four hectares. Today, it’s a dream realised; the culmination of their hard work and shared vision to relocate to a beautiful rural location, grow their own food and live a little more sustainably. Dave, 57, a former management consultant who also worked in property development, recently completed the two-and-a-half-year build of their country home — he did most of the physical work himself, bringing specialist tradesmen in for certain jobs such as the stone masonry on the fireplace, which was done by Style Scapes. The home is distinguished by features such as the vaulted ceilings with scissor trusses in the main bedroom and sitting room. Running a bed and breakfast was another of Kerry’s dreams, and so their new house adjoins the original farmhouse that Dave has also rebuilt as accommodation suites, which opened in August. When the couple’s children visit, however — Dave has a son, Ross, 26, and daughter >
Ella, 24, while Kerry’s son Mitchell is 22 — the separate wings become a family home. “It functions as either a four-bedroom house, or our one-bedroom house and a self-contained bed and breakfast,” says Dave. Outside, the picturesque garden is filled with herbs and Kerry’s favourite roses — “I’m a David Austin girl,” she says. They’ve developed a productive orchard and potager, and there are pretty arbours covered in honeysuckle and roses — all inspired by garden visits in France and built by Dave as Kerry’s 50th birthday present. A small flock of Romney Marsh sheep and lambs, plus one Suffolk, graze right up to the verandah deck. And now instead of 36,000 broiler chickens in the shed there are just six ISA Browns to supply them with eggs. The couple, who met two years before buying the farm and became engaged while holidaying in Paris, continued running the chicken business until they phased it out in 2016. “We had an old farmhouse and two chicken sheds not far from the end of their lives and the chicken broiler business — there were steep learning curves and overnight we became chicken farmers, much to the amusement of friends,” Kerry says. “Buying one of the oldest broiler farms on the peninsula and running the business allowed us to buy into this region,” Dave adds. While Dave moved down immediately to run the farm, Kerry stayed in Melbourne until 2014, coming down for weekends. In the meantime, Dave had renovated an old shearing shed from the property’s earlier sheep farming days and it became the venue for their wedding that same year. “We married on our property near the top dam, and had our reception in the shearing shed,” Kerry recalls. These days Dave manages the accommodation and farm maintenance while Kerry commutes to Melbourne two days a week, as well as doing the accommodation’s marketing and design. Both love to cook in the new kitchen, which has a walk-in pantry. “Dave now makes sourdough bread and we’re moving towards luxurious self-sufficiency,” says Kerry. “We have our own meat, a productive garden with fruit and vegetables — I love using them to bottle, and make jam.” Kerry calls Dave a ‘Jack of all trades’ who can turn his hand to most things. He takes particular pride in his best project yet. “I often sit down and think about what we’ve done and how we came to it,” Dave says. “I’ve done a few houses over the years, and when I’ve reflected on them, there were always a few things I’d change. But with this house we wouldn’t change a thing.” For information about Haven Red Hill, telephone 0417 568 597 or visit havenredhill.com.au