The Orchard Keepers Cottage at the Red Hill property of Lucy Hill and family – all photos Lucy Feagins.
Orchard Keepers Cottage interior – beautiful muslin-draped bed, bedlinen from Scarlet Jones
Bedside details
Okaaaayyy get ready for some serious home/life envy. Today I have the great pleasure of sharing a home I would DIE to own. This is the Red Hill weekender of Lucy Hill and family. Deep breaths people.
You may remember Lucy Hill’s beautiful Victorian home in Prahran which we posted here a little while ago. At the time Lucy was keen to share her holiday home in Red Hill with us too – so of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pay her family a little visit during school holidays a few weeks ago! What I discovered was the truly most idyllic family getaway… complete with rambling hills, vineyards in the distance, horseriding, and a couple of donkeys! Aghhh – too perfect!
Lucy and husband Tony purchased this beautiful property on the Mornington Pensinsula 5 years ago. Lucy says they had been looking for a while and fell in love with this farm and it’s three sweet cottages, surrounded by vineyards and green hills. Being an avid gardener, Lucy was particularly drawn to the generous grounds and beautiful old Sequoia tree pictured below (the tallest species on earth apparently!).
Of course when Lucy and Tony first acquired the farm there was a lot of work to be done! ‘Firstly we spent weekends painting the cottages – anyone who stayed was given a paintbrush’ says Lucy. Lucy’s special project though, and the subject for most of the shots you see here, is the Orchard Keeper’s Cottage – a tiny, self contained weatherboard cottage expertly renovated in Lucy’s classic, romantic style.
‘We restored the Old Orchard Keepers cottage for guests to stay in’ says Lucy. ’It was a labour of love. Everything we acquired fitted in so perfectly – including an old sink from Montreux and a beautiful bench top from a friends old butlers’ pantry. I worked once a week with a neighbour who was an absolute craftsman restoring it. When it was completed we decided to start renting it out as a romantic getaway – we have already had a couple of bridal parties and proposals! It makes all the hard work worthwhile and it has been so lovely to be able to share this cottage with others’.
With teenage kids Sam, Julia and Celia in tow, Lucy spends as many weekends and school holidays as she can here, when the cottage isn’t rented out. ’The girls horse ride and I love gardening – luckily we inherited a garden with 50 year old trees so we built a kitchen garden which is still evolving. I wanted my children to have a childhood of simplicity away on the weekends surrounded by nature’ says Lucy. I think you’ve succeeded Lucy! A truly magical home-away-from-home has been created here.
Massive thanks to Lucy for her incredible generosity during my visit, and for sharing her beautiful home with us (again!). I was so lucky she allowed me to stay in the Orchard Keepers Cottage overnight during my visit and it really was such a serene, calming space to sleep and wake up in the morning – I definitely recommend a stay here if you’re looking for a romantic weekender! (The Orchard Keepers Cottage is listed here for holiday rentals!)
Lucy loves the local produce and handcrafted product in Red Hill and wanted to make a special mention of the pottery and handmade pieces throughout the cottage, mostly bought at The Red Hill Market.
