To The Country

A farm-style sanctuary in the gold coast hinterland provides joy and space for this family of six and a welcome home for an ever-growing brood of chooks

- Kylie Jackes

WIDE OPEN SPACE Relocating to acreage gave homeowners Leanne and Rob the chance to build a country-style home in a setting where their children (pictured are daughters Eva, left, and Eleia) could enjoy a -rural lifestyle. “The kids have really taken to it,” says Leanne. “They’d love to get a horse and we’ve got plans to get a couple of cows.” Their timber-clad new build, painted in Dulux Antique White USA and topped with gable peaks, was orientated to capture views, winter sun and summer breezes. Rob built the home, including the impressive entry gate, which features ‘Aspen’ stacked stone from 3D Stone.

Country life has always appealed to Leanne, ever since spending Easter holidays at her cousins’ working farm as a kid. “They live on a huge property in central NSW and I just loved the open spaces,” she says. Now, having carved out her own taste of rural life with husband Rob and their four children – Rhys, 13, Eleia, 12, Eva, nine, and Hamish, seven – Leanne couldn’t be happier.

“It suits us all,” she explains of the family’s tree change from the nearby suburbs of the Gold Coast. “Rob spends weekends puttering about on his tractor, the girls do horse riding and there’s so much space for the kids to run around and just be kids.”

The push to move to the Gold Coast hinterland came seven years ago, when the couple realised they’d outgrown their previous home. “Our family had doubled in size, so when I saw this two-hectare block for sale I thought it was the ideal place to relocate and build a spacious forever home where we’d be content,” says Leanne.