Todd McKenney’s garden of delight
When Todd McKenney came across a heritage house with a stunning formal garden, he knew he had found his dream home before he had even been inside, writes Bronwyn Phillips.
WHEN THE WORST storm in 40 years slammed into the east coast of Australia in June, bringing with it massive seas, cyclonic winds and torrential rain, Todd McKenney feared for his heritagelisted home, surrounded by trees, on Sydney’s leafy North Shore.
“I was in Queensland wondering what I was going to come home to,” the musical theatre star recalls. “If branches had come down on my roof, I would have had it.”
Thankfully, the 120-year-old camphor laurel trees – also heritagelisted – remained upright, and Alloway, the 19th-century home in Pymble that Todd shares with Joey and Chrissie the greyhounds, remained intact. Originally a farmhouse, today Alloway sits on a huge block, nestled among formal gardens, lawns, shrubs and hedges. “I bought the house for the garden,” Todd says.
“In September, my house is just full of my own flowers – camellias, lilies, orchids, iris and hydrangeas. There is something cool about going to your own garden and cutting flowers.”
It was Todd’s great friend and former radio co-host Sonia Kruger who found the house for Todd. (Sonia also played a pivotal role in Todd acquiring Joey and Chrissie. “I was distraught after I lost my previous dogs and Sonia organised a lady from Greyhounds As Pets to come into the radio studio with a dog, to cheer me up,” Todd recalls. Instantly smitten, he adopted two of them.)
Before buying Alloway in 2009,
Todd had been enjoying the casual beach lifestyle in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for 15 years. “I was in the house at Bondi that everybody dropped in to on the way back from the beach,” he says. “That was good, but it had a shelf life. One Saturday afternoon, my doorbell rang and before I knew it I had 15 people in my backyard. And I didn’t feel like it. I wanted privacy.”
The 4am drive every morning to the studios at Ryde, where Todd did a radio program with Sonia, was also starting to become a grind.
During the show, while they played music, Sonia and Todd looked at real estate online. “One day, Sonia turned
her laptop around and said, ‘Look, Toddy’,” the Dancing With the Stars judge says. “So, after the show, we drove here and parked out the front.”
Todd knew straightaway he had found his dream home. “I hadn’t even been inside.” It’s easy to see why it was love at first sight for Todd. Majestic but not imposing, Alloway retains much of the charm and warmth of its farmhouse origins. These days, it boasts four bedrooms, three lounge rooms, an open-plan kitchen, office and piano room. “It was one of the leading houses of the area, on hundreds of acres originally. There were shearing sheds and milking sheds.”
A formal garden requires constant maintenance to keep it looking at its best. “All of this front part had been established, all I had to do was shape it and grow it. I never let the garden get out of control,” says Todd. “It’s a showpiece and people stop and take photos.”
Yet, given his showman’s lifestyle, with travelling and work commitments (he is currently on tour with his autobiographical show, What A Life!, plus his weekly radio show on 2UE), he has the help of a gardener.
“I do the finessing and she does the big stuff,” Todd explains.
“The garden is a showpiece and people stop and take photos.”
When he is in residence, Todd loves to share Alloway with others, so four times a year he opens the home up for high tea soirées. At these events, Todd plays host to 40 guests, who have access to the entire house and gardens.
“They walk through the garden, have champagne and meet the dogs first,” Todd says. “We have high tea, they mingle, talk about musical theatre, and then we have 50 minutes of singing in my piano room – my double bass player comes and a backing singer, and we have someone from Opera Australia to sing Puccini.”
For Todd, owning a heritage home comes with responsibility and he sees his role at Alloway as not simply as an owner, but as a caretaker.
“I will pass it on at some point to someone who will love it and care for it,” he says.
“There is something cool about going to your own garden and cutting flowers.”