LURE OF THE LAND

A DAYLESFORD SHOPKEEPER CELEBRATES THE FESTIVE SEASON IN A COTTAGE PERCHED HIGH ON A HILL.

Having grown up in country Victoria, Helen Curtis returned to her roots when she and her husband bought and renovated a cottage in Daylesford.

THE COUNTRY HAS a way of seeping into your soul, and quietly living there, no matter where you go. Helen Curtis was born and bred on a farm in East Gippsland, Victoria, and then raised her own three, now adult, children in the region. But more than a decade ago she became a city dweller, living in inner-city Melbourne with her husband Rodney: that was until the longing set in.

“I grew up on a farm that my ancestors had lived on for 160 years, between Metung and the Tambo River, a beautiful part of the world,” says Helen, owner of Found, an antiques store in Daylesford. “We moved to a small apartment in the city but after living there for six months with no garden, no trees and no grass under my feet, we decided to buy something in the country so I didn’t go insane. The country is in my blood; I need earth under my feet.”

She and Rodney, who has a Melbourne advertising agency, met 10 years ago. They often visited Daylesford, 110 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, the small town made up of pretty cottages and church spires clinging to the sides of an extinct volcano. “We were overcome with the romance of the area, and the gorgeous architecture and interesting villages. And we loved the fact that Daylesford is very unique, it’s vibrant with fresh people all the time. We got intoxicated and in 2010, we purchased this!” she says.

‘This’ was a small unfinished timber cottage with sweeping views over the treetop canopy of the Wombat State Forest that had been built some 25 years before. Set high up on Wombat Hill, one of the many round volcanic cones in the Daylesford region on top of which lie the magnificent 19th-century botanic gardens, it is here that Helen and Rodney, and her children, Sarah, 36, Cassidy, 29, and Alexandra, 26, and their partners will all gather for Christmas lunch this year.

“We love it here at Christmas and if it’s good weather we’ll have lunch alfresco. It’s normally no more than 10 of us, and we are very traditional and normally do turkey. We have fairly rustic decorations with pine, holly and natural things as well as heaps of candles,” she says.

With doll’s-house looks, the cottage has a steep gabled roof, pierced with dormer windows that light up the upper loft space, now the couple’s bedroom and sitting room. This space also doubles as an office for Rodney where he often works. Down a steep timber staircase is a small kitchen, dining area and bathroom. It’s a far cry from when they first saw the cottage. “It was totally unfinished and unloved and needed a lot of work,” Helen recalls.

“It was around about 25 years old when we started on it and it was just a shell on the inside.”

One of the first things they did was build a three-metrehigh stone wall behind the house, cutting off the top of the block and creating a sheltered courtyard. “We did the wall first as we needed somewhere to sit as the ground was so uneven and there was mess everywhere — we had 20 large tips that went out of here. We started doing the work on it on weekends, and there was no real plumbing, the upstairs >

“I grew up on a farm that my ancestors had lived on for 160 years… The country is in my blood, I need earth under my feet.”

The kitchen and dining area was lined in old timber boards sourced by the owner Helen Curtis. The chandelier and table are French and the chairs are Australian antiques. You can find similar at Found in Daylesford. FACING PAGE Helen’s collection of Christmas decorations.

FROM TOP Helen decorating the dining table with foliage from her garden; cheese is set out on the slide-out panel of an old pastry counter. FACING PAGE When Helen and Rodney bought the cottage it was an empty shell. A French armchair has been covered in simple calico. Stairs now lead up to the couple’s bedroom. A taxidermy swan is on the landing.

Helen and Rodney’s bedroom was built in the steep gabled roof space of the cottage. Antique French doors were installed instead of windows to make the most of the sweeping view over the treetops in Wombat State Forest. The bed linen is a mix of Sheridan and linen Helen has made for Found. For stockist details, see page 138.