ARTISAN LIVING

From the Current Owners:<br/><br/>Our house was built around a window – a window we found at the back of a wrecker's yard in Ballarat. A huge stained-glass window glinting dully in the gloom, the promise of colour and life hidden beneath layers of neglect, grime and old chicken wire. It was a window we had to have and with it the dream of our sustainable home began.<br/><br/>When we found our block of land in Lyonville in 2011, it was an open paddock with a well, some poplars and rich, red, volcanic soil. Our dream home began to take shape. We wanted it to be beautiful, made from natural materials and as sustainable and comfortable as possible. We also wanted to build it ourselves.<br/>We laid the foundations in 2012 and spent the next twelve months building three days a week. As the resident 'Ebay Queen' Jane sourced all manner of discarded building materials and brought them back to life. A staircase from Eltham, tin ceiling panels from Tylden, stained glass doors from Melbourne and a stained-glass archway from an old pub in Castlemaine. We decided that the guiding rule for the house was that we had to love everything in it from the door handles right through to the light switches. <br/><br/>To make our home as energy efficient and as comfortable as possible we overdid the insulation. With an R-10 ceiling and R-4 walls, a big strawbale wall to the south, double-glazed windows and a passive solar orientation, our home is always cool in summer and warm in winter. The solar hot water, solar panels, compost worm farm sewage system and 80,000L of tank water make our home very self-sufficient.<br/><br/>The large, protected vegetable garden, greenhouse, luxury poultry accommodation and established fruit trees provide us with year-round produce. If you forage in our garden, you might find broad beans, buckets of raspberries, garlic, leeks, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, kale, rhubarb, blueberries, strawberries, armfuls of nectarines, pears or apples. Each season yields a different treat – especially when it comes to flowers. From blossoms in spring through to a blaze of colour in autumn, our garden always has a gift to share.<br/><br/>Our home is a place of creativity, laughter, friends, family and food. It is a place of beauty and peace. It is a house informed by the seasons and the changing light throughout the day. It is a house at the edge of a forest filled with winding paths to explore. It is a home bathed in morning mist and blessed with night-time skies ablaze with stars. It is a home where you may dig up a frog in the garden, find an echidna in your shed or a pod of kangaroos on your lawn. <br/><br/>For us it has been the perfect place to raise our family and share the delights of living in Lyonville. Now it is time for our home to find new custodians. We hope that you will love living here as much as we have loved creating it. <br/><br/>Key Features<br/><br/>• North facing passive solar house<br/>• Solar Power<br/>• Solar Hot Water<br/>• Strawbale and radially-sawn timber construction<br/>• Double glazing<br/>• Concrete floors<br/>• R10 Ceiling insulation<br/>• R4 Wall insulation<br/>• Mezzanine with parquetry flooring<br/>• Wood burning fire<br/>• 80,000 litres of tank water<br/>• Mains electricity <br/>• Working studio<br/>• Established gardens<br/>• Farmgate opportunity<br/>• Water well available for irrigation <br/><br/>