A Home Full of Heart
Growing up holidaying in a seaside paradise were magical times for Sarah Lu and Port Fairy’s perfect mix of coast and culture drew her back when it came time to raise her family.
“I like to complement a home or space with what it needs to feel warm and welcoming. I find the less I plan the better, as I like to go with my gut and it either works or not.”
Sarah Lu grew up in the oceanside town of Warrnambool on the south-west coast of Victoria, about a three-hour drive from Melbourne. Growing up in Warrnambool meant an idyllic childhood with lots of games, riding bikes and horses with Sarah’s four siblings. Summers were spent in Port Fairy, 20 minutes down the road from Warrnambool, at her parents’ beach shack where days were filled with swimming and surfing. After boarding school and time travelling throughout her twenties Sarah felt the urge to return, “I always had the feeling of wanting to return back to live in a smaller community on the coast. Port Fairy ticked all the boxes.”
Sarah and her husband Jet are the proud owners of Lucy`s Lane, three boutique cottages in the charming seaside town of Port Fairy, Victoria. They moved to Port Fairy 15 years ago after leaving busy lives in China where they met while working at a university. Jet was a lecturer in Martial Arts and Sarah was teaching Art and English. “We purchased Lucy`s Lane after a quick inspection on a Saturday afternoon just as the agent was packing up and heading to his next open house. When we walked through this charming historic house, which dates back to the 1850s, there was just something about it that resonated with us and although in need of lots of TLC we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it and take on this new and exciting project.”
Originally named Yates Hill Farm, one of the oldest dairy farms in the district, Sarah describes the main homestead “like entering a time capsule and the first time we walked into the place we had this overwhelming sense of it being a happy space, where families gathered, shared stories and warmed their bellies around the charming bluestone fireplace in the centre of the house. We both thought it would make a great boutique stay and something we could create with a sense of community in mind where holidaying families, friends or couples could have the experience to slow down and engage in longer conversations, more intimate memories, and build closer relationships after their holiday. We wanted guests to escape from their modern worlds and by staying at Lucy’s Lane be allowed to step back in time to a simpler life.” Lucy’s Lane consists of three properties including The House, The Cottage and The Dairy.
Sarah talks about Lucy’s Lane like she’s an old friend “I love her story and the random pieces I have discovered along the way.”
Sarah’s true passion is ceramics and sculpture and she completed a degree in fine art, majoring in Ceramics at Victorian College of the Arts. She then went on to complete a master’s in art education at Sydney University. Travelling throughout her twenties took her to all corners of the world where she could immerse herself in all of the beautiful artwork she had spent years studying. Sarah did spend a few years studying interior design in her late twenties but found the design rules quite restrictive. “I don’t really like to have a set of rules or stringent guidelines when designing a room, it’s much more based on a mixture of rambling ideas from Instagram, interior magazines or an interior I`ve been in and thought wow, what a space. It’s been a pleasure to have the freedom to create my own design spaces at Lucy’s Lane and incorporate my passion of preserving historical homes with a love of vintage and unique collections.”
Sarah describes her style as vintage and eclectic and enjoys combining both traditional and contemporary. “I like to complement a home or space with what it needs to feel warm and welcoming. I find the less I plan the better, as I like to go with my gut and it either works or not. I enjoy the excitement of finding vintage pieces or something contemporary and randomly placing them together until I feel it works. This definitely is my happy space.” This is evident in Lucy’s Lane’s design where Sarah has combined more modern style with vintage finds. A coastal style rattan pendant mixes beautifully with vintage seating and the stone fireplace, while in the kitchen earthenware pottery sits alongside vintage art finds and cross back dining chairs.
Sarah talks about Lucy’s Lane like she’s an old friend “I love her story and the random pieces I have discovered along the way. The uneven light that comes through the small vintage glass windows in the afternoon gets me every time. I love the beautiful stone fireplace, her sloping uneven ceilings and her textural thick walls that could tell thousands of stories. I`ve always loved period homes as I think it takes me back to my childhood visiting my grandparents in their quaint cottage surrounded with Australian bush in Healesville.”
Sarah and Jet designed the garden, doing all the heavy landscaping themselves using local stone produced in the area. “There was already an established garden when we bought the property but it was really overgrown and let go. It’s a mixture of Australian natives and a rambling cottage garden so we have tried to just complement this with formal paving using local bluestone and filling in the gaps with natives that attract birdlife and help to create a lovely little sanctuary.”
It is clear just how much Sarah and Jet love their haven of Port Fairy but also the joy of opening Lucy’s Lane to visitors and introducing others to the beauty of the region. When asked what the family love to do in their spare time, Sarah describes a perfect day which includes eating Chinese dumplings at the local farmer’s market and a walk to the historic Port Fairy lighthouse followed by a surf or swim at one of Port Fairy’s pristine local beaches. The day is topped off with beer and Sri Lankan curry at the local pub, The Stump. Sarah concludes “We have three children that have grown up with the beach as their backyard and Port Fairy is for all five of us the perfect mix of a small coastal town with a vibrant food, arts and cultural community.”
@lucyslaneportfairy
Port Fairy is a small coastal town in south west Victoria approximately four hours west of Melbourne. This idyllic village was once the home of whalers and seal hunters, now a cosmopolitan mix of historic architecture, charming shops and a vibrant food culture.