For a family weekend away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney, put Jamberoo Valley Farm at the top of your wish list.

Located on the New South Wales South Coast about two hours south of Sydney, this working permaculture farm hosts a serenely styled holiday home, made for idyllic country experiences.

The creation of this Victorian coastal home began when the owners moved from a large property, to a smaller beachside block. The family of five were seeking a feeling of lightness and stillness in their new environment, without losing the privacy they’d become accustomed to.

Also important was the ability for the house to be adaptable as the owners’ children approached adulthood.

The house was designed and documented at Nest Architects, and continued through the construction stage by Placement. The result is a home that’s as practical as it is thoroughly gorgeous, blurring the line between modernist design principles, and contemporary design.

John and Jenny Shaw are lifelong gardeners, and their half acre plot in Woodend is an expression of their lives. Planted without reason or design, it’s a rambling and intuitive space that resists construction. Even defintion. There’s a mannagum tree over 300 years old, beside random plants gifted to John and Jenny by friends. John describes it as a ‘serendipitous’ place, a lived-in garden filled with tokens of the couple’s near 50-year stewardship of the property.

This space of cultivated landscape has seen John and Jenny’s children grow from infants to adults, even hosting one of their weddings decades later. Their son, Ben Shaw, has gone into a career in permaculture – no doubt inspired by a childhood spent soaking up this loving family garden. 

It’s a very special place.