Ellis House inspiration for the day.

Its official I am addicted to Pinterest! I could look at it for hours for wonderful inspiration for AURA and for Ellis House, our soon to be country retreat in Kyneton! I love this shot above, it's sophisticated, classically modern and well slightly European. Will this be my country look? Mixed shades of wood, beautiful mottled greys and stunning chandeliers - hmm I could think of worse looks :)
And below I found this great idea for a bathroom window treatment of using a linen table runner as a curtain - from a cool 50s house for sale.

I have found such gorgeous shots of bathroom renovations, but I am instantly relaxed looking at this shot above, I love the soft sage walls with vintage white trim, the wooden furniture and the rust curtains. Oh how I dream of lying in a Bath with a view! 

Escape to the Country - it was worth the wait!

So it has been a bit of a journey over the past year, with a lot of trips to the country for husband and I but it was worth the wait. We are finally the very proud and excited owners of our new country escape, beautiful barn and all!!!

I can only thank my very supportive and patient husband (and AURA team who have had put up with me and live the dream) for coming on this life journey with me.  Oh and thanks in advance for the huge amount of painting that he may have to do later in the year. I have been told very loudly that he doesn't like gardening!

My husbands pride and joy "the barn" every man needs a shed! Without the barn I don't think he would have let us buy it. But I have to agree it is rather gorgeous. Watch this space, I am looking forward to sharing our adventures when the work begins! Lots of painting, decorating and veggie planting ahead.....

Annie Smithers Garden Tour

Recently we where lucky enough to meet the wonderful Annie Smithers and be taken on a personal tour of her very inspirational working Garden in Malmsbury, country Victoria. The garden grows up to 90% of the produce used in her 2 restaurants. Since the tour I have been propagating my own seeds and working on making our own home garden into a "tiny" version of a kitchen garden....

Above is Annie in action on her very much loved red tractor! And below fabulous images of her acre of kitchen garden. 

 

Beautiful Carrots above, I have high aspirations for my home garden now!

Could this be the most beautiful Radicchio I have ever seen??? I think so!

Total Fennel envy!

Wondrous meters of berries! Annie also produces stunning jams and preserves from her gardens produce. 

Annies very elegant French Toulouse Geese slightly camera shy but absolutely stunning with their "fluffy" feathers on show. So if you are a keen home garden like we are then I highly recommend giving Annie a visit and getting your hands on her fabulous new book, which is full of recipes using the gardens produce and also a very inspiring read.  

Stone cottage in the Country

Could this be it! Our country getaway?? Hubby and I have been searching for about a year now for a special little place away from Melbourne and this could be the one! Well I'm not sure really but I'm hoping as I have been dragging him around country Victoria since last August looking and finally a lovely example of Bluestone history is for sale. How amazing it would be to have a getaway to go to that is indeed a special part of history. I believe this lovely little stone cottage must have been built around 1860/70s. Off for another drive now - fingers crossed!

Our new Veggie Garden - part two

Now to fill our new garden. I read up on what to plant and all about companion plants, I have definitely learnt alot over the last few days. We had our work cut out for us locating organic seedlings, after just filling our garden with totally organic materials, I wanted to make sure we where only planting organic seedlings and seeds. We headed over to Ceres in Brunswick, what a fabulous place that is, a Community Environmental Park and Urban Farm. Amongst many other things they propagate their own seedlings and we where able to find organic Climbing Beans, Red Lettuce, Italian Parsley and Sweet Basil.

Across town and we found organic and Heirloom seeds for our Carrots, Lebanese Cucumber, Eggplant and Zucchini's (which I now realise won't all fit!). And below, our first planting of Climbing Beans with Bamboo poles in the anticipation that they will indeed climb!

Then the addition of gorgeous little Red Lettuce's, Sweet Basil and Italian Parsley.

And then off to buy more Mulch for around the bases of the seedlings. The empty looking Compost on the lower left hand side is full of lovely Carrot seeds and the lower right hand side is hopefully going to be a healthy Lebanese Cucumber!

Then for a layer of protective mesh, as we were planting the bird chirping seemed to be getting louder with excitement. So we thought we best add some mesh so the lovely little seedlings and seeds are still there in the morning.

Then the water. Hubby added a little drip irrigation system in and attached it to our existing water tank (I have to say he is abit of a legend!) So finally all done, now to cross our fingers for the exciting times ahead - that we may be eating our own Vegetables and Herbs in weeks & months to come!

Our new Veggie Garden part one

Well I've done it, actually we did it, thank you very helpful husband! Although on the 3rd trip to the Nursery in search of organic seedlings he was getting abit over it (they are not that easy to find!) so thanks for hanging in there. I thought I'd show you the making of our new Veggie and Herb garden - which we are both pretty proud of achieving and hope to enjoy home grown veggies in the months to come. Below is the arrival of our Steel raised Veggie patch which we found at Garden World. 

And then off we went with the aid of our newly purchased "The Little Veggie Patch Co" book on how to grow food in small spaces - for the amateur gardener I can highly recommend the book - as well as being very informative it is full of humour which kept me entertained. In search of Organic fertiliser, Compost, Pea Straw and other things - only thing I am still trying to locate is Worm Castings - yep Worm poo! Looks like I will have to wait till they come back from holidays to get it directly from them.

Back home and the soon to be garden is in location - with the use of a spirit level and shovel we were ready to start filling with layers to create our no dig garden. 

Our second layer of Pea Straw is in and we are realising it takes a lot to fill a 1200x700x800 sized space. There could be another trip to the Nursery involved as we don't have enough compost to fill it!

And another 8 bags of Compost should do it! Now off to do more research on what to plant! 

Little Veggie Gardens

I would love one of these! "Someone" in the office is keen for us to set up a work veggie & herb garden and came across these gorgeous Veggie Gardens made from recycled apple crates by The Little Veggie Patch Co - these are fantastic. You can order them either made up or DIY. It looks so easy and great if you don't have the space in your actual garden, as you can even order them with castors! A new project for the holidays maybe :)

Our lovely Jacaranda

Our lovely Jacaranda tree was planted in 1954 the year our house was built. When we renovated 3 years ago we were very worried that we would upset the tree when we built a deck over the top of it. As you can see it is a pretty happy tree! We swept up the deck yesterday and here's what it looked like this morning - it is a bit of an effort to keep the deck from being covered in purple this time of year but you have to smile as its so beautiful!

My garden

Both my mother and grandmother will agree that I did not inherit their amazing gardening skills, but saying that I do have to say that I am quite proud of our garden at the moment. Here's a few shots I took this morning as I was admiring it, we planted 2 years ago and I'm astonished at how much it has all grown. Hopefully the beautiful weather keeps up over the weekend so we can all enjoy being outdoors!

Barnwood Headboard - I love this!

All this tree change talk (or is it just me?) has got me thinking about the idea of having a beautiful luxury getaway in the country - hubby getting his head around it still! I found this gorgeous headboard idea in the DIY section of the fabulous Design Sponge. It looks earthy & calming, just perfect, and better still I think even I could make it! Check out how to make it here. 

Waking up in the country

I could wake up to this view everyday! On our way to Beechworth we have made a detour to Echuca for a couple of nights to a lovely little cottage on the Moama side of the river. Ahh the serenity of it all :)

Winter Wonderland Workshop - This Saturday

The lovely ladies at Prunella in Kyneton are having a workshop on making their "Winter Wonderland Glass Cloche" this Saturday 30th July if you would like be included - I would love to go if I wasnt going to be on an island with my husband for my birthday (sorry!!!) hopefully next time, or in the future when hubby and I buy a beautiful house in the country. There are limited spaces so for contact information visit their website and i'd love to see some shots of the day.........

OMG I am excited!

I am so excited! My very lovely husband has just booked the most amazing resort for a few nights get away for my birthday! We are off to Six Senses in Yao Noi in Thailand, we have been to a Six Senses resort before and still keep talking about it as it was so natural and beautiful! I cant wait - look out Sun here we come!